LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.  MACKINLEY  HELM 


JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 


JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

BY 
JAMES   CLEMENT   SHARP 

FORMERLY    ASSISTANT    MINISTER    AT    CHRIST   CHURCH 
SPRINGFIELD,   MASSACHUSETTS 


CAMBRIDGE 

PRINTED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
MCMIX 


COPYRIGHT,  1909 
BY  JAMES  C.  SHARP 


S43 

PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  an  attempt  to  put  in  a 
concrete  and  detailed  form  some  facts  of 
an  active  and  successful  ministry.  In  the 
midst  of  the  changing  religious  thought 
and  conditions  of  his  time  John  Cotton 
Brooks  exhibited  a  singleness  of  aim, 
with  a  consecration  and  a  devotion  to 
duty,  that  was  as  remarkable  as  it  was 
fruitful.  The  first  chapter  contains  a 
sketch  of  two  Puritan  families,  —  the 
Brooks  and  the  Phillips,  —  from  the  time 
of  their  arrival  on  these  New  England 
shores  until  they  were  united  two  hundred 
years  later  by  the  marriage  of  William 
Gray  Brooks  and  Mary  Ann  Phillips,  — 
the  parents  of  Mr.  Brooks.  The  second 


iv  PREFACE 

chapter  is  an  account  of  the  family  in- 
fluences of  his  early  life.  With  these 
facts  in  mind  we  can  better  understand 
the  forces  which  moulded  his  character 
and  set  his  face  towards  the  work  he  was 
to  accomplish  in  later  years.  In  the 
remaining  chapters  the  emphasis  is  upon 
the  Springfield  ministry. 

Mr.  Brooks  began  his  ministry  at 
Christ  Church,  Springfield,  Massachu- 
setts, when  the  financial  difficulties  of  the 
parish  were  very  great.  At  the  end  of 
his  first  four  years,  when  the  debt  had 
increased  rather  than  diminished,  he 
declined  a  unanimous  call  to  become 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Intercession, 
New  York  City.  Duty  bade  him  re- 
main and  work  out  the  problem  to  which 
he  believed  God  had  called  him.  For 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  labored 
to  remove  the  debt.  Meanwhile  he 


PREFACE  v 

succeeded  in  building  up  Christ  Church, 
until  it  became  at  the  time  of  his  death 
the  second  largest  Episcopal  parish  in 
New  England.  The  secret  of  his  suc- 
cess was  his  pastoral  love.  He  knew 
his  people,  and  he  won  their  friend- 
ship. He  aimed  to  be  with  them  in 
the  trials  and  sorrows  of  life.  Above 
all  else  his  Church  and  his  people  came 
first. 

He  served  the  city  as  effectively  as  he 
did  his  parish.  In  his  deep  sense  of 
justice,  and  in  his  patriotic  impulses 
there  glowed  the  fire  which  impelled  him 
in  every  effort  for  social  reform  and  civic 
betterment.  In  such  work  he  was  earnest, 
intelligent,  and  practical.  He  sought  to 
ennoble  and  uplift  the  standard  of  living, 
morally  and  spiritually  in  the  city,  as  he 
did  in  the  Church.  His  self-sacrificing 
spirit  in  helping  humanity,  both  within 


vi  PREFACE 

and  without  his  parish,  stands  conspicuous 
as  a  witness  to  his  simple  but  profound 
faith  in  God  and  man. 

He  preached  Jesus  Christ  with  an 
earnestness  and  conviction  that  brought 
sure  and  lasting  results.  At  times  he  was 
eloquent,  always  persuasive,  aiming  to 
lead  his  people  to  a  spiritual  outlook,  that 
they  might  see  their  own  capacities  for 
higher  and  nobler  living.  His  purpose 
was  to  instruct  in  God's  word,  to  arouse 
the  conscience,  and  to  make  real  the 
power  of  God  and  Christ. 

In  the  hope  that  this  book  may  be  of 
interest  to  his  parishioners  and  friends, 
and  in  some  measure  a  source  of  help 
and  inspiration  to  others  into  whose 
hands  it  may  fall,  —  perchance  to  young 
men  entering  the  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ, 
—  I  send  it  forth  as  the  record  of  the 
life  of  a  good  and  consecrated  man. 


PREFACE  vii 

The  materials  for  the  making  of  this 
brief  biography  have  come  from  the 
reminiscences  of  his  parishioners  and 
friends,  and  from  my  own  association 
with  Mr.  Brooks  for  more  than  seven 
years  as  assistant  minister.  To  the  late 
Rev.  A.  V.  G.  Allen,  D.D.,  of  Cam- 
bridge, I  am  indebted  for  advice  and 
encouragement  in  beginning  this  book, 
and  to  the  members  of  the  family,  Mrs. 
John  Cotton  Brooks,  and  the  Misses 
Brooks,  Mr.  William  Gray  Brooks,  and 
Rev.  Daniel  Dulany  Addison,  D.D.,  for 
their  sympathy  and  assistance.  To 
Messrs.  E.  P.  Dutton  and  Company,  the 
publishers  of  the  life  of  Phillips  Brooks, 
I  am  indebted  for  the  kind  permission 
to  use  some  extracts  from  letters.  To  the 
Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  Rev. 
George  Hodges,  D.D.,  Dean  of  the  Epis- 


viii  PREFACE 

copal  Theological  School  at  Cambridge, 
I  am  deeply  grateful  for  generous  help 

and  kind  suggestions. 

J.  C.  S. 

WABAN  (NEWTON),  MASS.,  May,  1909. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  Two  PURITAN  FAMILIES 13 

II.   THE  EARLY  YEARS 26 

III.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  SPRINGFIELD 

MINISTRY 43 

IV.  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  PARISH.     .     .  57 
V.   THE  SUCCESS  OF  THE  SOCIETIES    .     .  72 

VI.   TRAITS  THAT  HELPED 91 

VII.    BEYOND  THE  PARISH 101 

VIII.   THE  PREACHER 120 

IX.   THE  MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION    .     .  140 

X.   Two  MEMORABLE  SERVICES      .     .     .  158 

XI.   THE  LAST  VOYAGE  178 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

PORTRAIT  OF  THE  REV.  JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

Frontispiece 

CHRIST  CHURCH 50 

THE  PARISH  HOUSE 50 

THE  RECTORY 92 

MR.  BROOKS  IN  HIS  VESTMENTS      ....  120 


JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

CHAPTER  I 

TWO   PURITAN   FAMILIES 

IN  the  year  1630  Thomas  Brooks  heard 
the  first  sermon  preached  in  Watertown, 
Massachusetts.  The  Minister  was  Rev. 
George  Phillips.  These  two  were  the 
first  ancestors  of  John  Cotton  Brooks  to 
settle  in  this  country,  and  they  were  also 
among  the  first  settlers  of  Watertown.  A 
family  record  tells  us  that  in  company 
with  Governor  John  Winthrop  they  ar- 
rived at  Salem  Harbor  in  the  ship  "Ara- 
bella," the  twelfth  of  June,  1630.  Thomas 
Brooks  lived  a  few  years  in  Watertown, 
and  then  moved  to  Concord.  He  was  a 
well-to-do  farmer,  as  is  evidenced  by  his 


14     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

purchase  of  a  farm  at  Medford,  on  which 
his  son  Caleb  settled  after  his  marriage, 
and  there  two  sons,  Ebenezer  and  Sam- 
uel, were  born  to  him.  From  this  time 
the  Brooks  family  is  closely  identified 
with  the  history  of  Medford. 

In  the  year  1635  Thomas  Boylston 
arrived  at  Boston.  His  son,  Dr.  Thomas 
Boylston,  had  a  family  of  twelve  children, 
of  whom  one,  named  Peter,  was  a  direct 
ancestor  of  John  Adams,  the  second  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  The  name  of 
Boylston  was  to  become  conspicuous  later 
in  the  history  of  Boston  and  Harvard  Col- 
lege. Abigail,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Boyls- 
ton, married  Ebenezer  Brooks,  and  their 
grandson  was  John  Brooks.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolutionary  War  this  John 
Brooks  led  a  company  at  the  battle  of  Lex- 
ington, fought  at  Bunker  Hill  and  Sara- 
toga, and  step  by  step  was  raised  in  rank, 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES       15 

until  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth  he  was 
acting  adjutant-general.  As  a  confidant 
and  friend  of  Washington  he  attained  a 
high  place  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 
After  the  Revolution  he  practised  his 
profession  as  a  physician,  keeping  in 
touch  meanwhile  with  public  life.  He 
was  Governor  of  Massachusetts  for  seven 
years,  and  died  in  1825. 

Through  Samuel  Brooks,  the  half- 
brother  of  Ebenezer,  came  the  direct  line 
of  descent  to  John  Cotton  Brooks.  He 
married  Sarah  Boylston,  a  sister  of  Abi- 
gail, and  their  son  Samuel  had  a  son  of 
the  same  name,  who  had  four  sons  and 
one  daughter.  It  fell  to  Edward  Brooks, 
the  second  son,  to  be  the  first  representa- 
tive of  his  family  in  the  ministry.  He  set- 
tled at  North  Yarmouth,  Maine,  where 
differences  between  him  and  his  parishion- 
ers arose,  as  to  his  theological  doctrines. 


16     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

He  was  more  liberal  than  his  congrega- 
tion, and  his  anti-Calvinistic  tendencies 
were  to  them  a  sore  grievance.  After 
giving  them  his  blessing,  and  expressing 
the  hope  that  "they  may  get  another 
pastor  who  shall  feed  them  with  spiritual 
knowledge  and  understanding,"  he  re- 
signed his  charge  and  returned  to  Med- 
ford.  Although  out  of  health  when  the 
call  to  arms  came  in  1775,  but  "with  a 
competent  share  of  courage,"  he  hurried 
away  from  Medford  to  engage  in  the  Con- 
cord fight.  Afterwards,  as  chaplain  of  the 
frigate  "Hancock,"  he  was  captured  by 
the  British  and  carried  to  Halifax,  where 
he  had  the  smallpox.  He  returned  to 
Medford  and  died  soon  after,  in  1781. 

Abigail  Brown,  his  wife,  the  daughter 
of  Joanna  Cotton  of  Haverhill,  was  the 
great-granddaughter  of  Rev.  John  Cot- 
ton, the  first  minister  of  Boston,  and  also 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES      17 

the  great-grandmother  of  John  Cotton 
Brooks.  Their  son,  Cotton  Brown  Brooks, 
the  grandfather  of  John  Cotton  Brooks, 
settled  in  Portland,  Maine,  where  he  be- 
came an  honored  citizen  and  a  prosperous 
business  man.  His  son,  William  Gray 
Brooks,  at  the  age  of  nineteen  came  to 
Boston  to  seek  his  fortunes.  His  father's 
brother,  Peter  Chardon  Brooks,  lived 
at  Medford,  and  to  his  house  William 
went  as  a  frequent  visitor.  Peter  Chardon 
Brooks  was  said  to  be  the  richest  man  in 
Boston  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1849. 

The  members  of  the  Brooks  family 
were  thus  typical  New  Englanders.  In 
early  days  they  were  tillers  of  the  soil, 
and  were  prosperous.  As  time  went  on 
they  came  to  the  cities  and  were  success- 
ful in  business  life.  In  the  words  of  the 
family  record,  "Of  the  Brooks  family  who 
came  to  Medford  from  the  time  of  the 

2 


18     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

first  Caleb,  they  were  worthy  men  in  com- 
fortable circumstances,  rather  rich  for 
farmers,  men  of  influence  in  town  affairs. 
None  except  the  Governor  were  men  of 
distinction  as  magistrates,  except  that 
some  of  them  were  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
and  representatives  to  the  General  Court." 
When  we  turn  to  the  Phillips  family,  we 
find  them  graduates  of  Harvard,  ministers 
of  great  influence,  men  eminent  in  vari- 
ous offices  of  State,  founders  of  institu- 
tions of  learning,  and  men  who  showed  by 
their  acts  a  reverence  for  the  past,  and  a 
deep  responsibility  as  to  the  future.  In 
Church,  and  State,  and  in  social  life  they 
were  conspicuous. 

The  Rev.  George  Phillips,  who  sailed 
with  Governor  Winthrop  for  New  Eng- 
land in  1630,  had  been  ordained  in  the 
Church  of  England.  He  cast  his  lot  with 
the  Puritans  and  came  across  the  seas  to 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES      19 

aid  in  establishing  a  new  form  of  worship, 
for  fourteen  years  ministering  to  the  little 
settlement  at  Watertown.  He  died  in 
1644.  Winthrop  speaks  well  of  him  in 
his  journal,  as  a  scholar  of  ability  and  a 
good  preacher.  He  was  a  lover  of  liberty, 
both  political  and  religious,  and  guarded 
with  a  jealous  eye  any  encroachments 
upon  his  own  church  rights  by  other 
churches  or  by  the  civil  authorities.  He 
believed  in  independent  church  govern- 
ment, and  later  his  views  were  formulated 
into  Congregationalism.  As  to  political 
liberty,  he  remonstrated  when  the  Gov- 
ernor levied  a  tax  without  the  consent  of 
the  people,  and  before  the  next  tax  was 
levied  two  representatives  were  appointed 
from  each  plantation  to  consider  the 
question  he  had  raised. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  his  son,  was 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1650. 


20     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

For  forty-five  years  he  labored  in  his 
parish  at  Rowley,  until  his  death  in  1696. 
His  son  of  the  same  name  became  a 
goldsmith  at  Salem,  and  married  Mary 
Emerson  of  Gloucester,  a  clergyman's 
daughter.  Their  son  was  the  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Phillips,  the  third  of  that  name.  He 
was  graduated  at  Harvard  and  studied 
for  the  ministry,  and  in  1711  was  ordained 
at  the  South  Church,  Andover.  With  his 
ministry  begins  the  association  of  the 
Phillips  family  with  the  town  of  Andover. 
He  was  a  stern  Puritan,  and  as  such  is 
said  to  have  been  a  representative  spirit 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  A  strong 
Calvinist,  he  preached  with  power,  and 
wielded  a  great  influence  over  the  lives 
of  his  parishioners.  An  hour-glass  upon 
his  pulpit  desk  measured  the  length  of 
his  sermons.  When  family  evening  pray- 
ers were  said  his  sense  of  economy 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES      21 

prompted  him  to  blow  out  his  candle,  but 
he  was  able  to  send  his  sons  to  Harvard 
College,  and  give  away  a  tenth  of  his 
income. 

The  Honorable  Samuel  Phillips,  who 
represented  the  next  generation,  instead 
of  entering  the  ministry  chose  a  business 
career.  He  accumulated  wealth  and  be- 
came active  in  political  life.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
of  the  Council  of  the  Commonwealth  he 
was  respected  for  his  ability  and  charac- 
ter. He  built  the  Phillips  homestead  at 
North  Andover.  His  son  Samuel,  known 
as  Judge  Phillips,  was  the  great-grand- 
father of  John  Cotton  Brooks. 

Judge  Phillips  was  born  in  1752.  While 
at  Harvard  College  he  showed  marked 
ability  and  diligence,  standing  seventh  in 
his  class,  and  he  was  the  first  president 
of  the  "Institute  of  1770,"  a  society  still 


22     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

popular  at  Harvard.  It  was  in  those 
days  that  a  romance  began  which  was  to 
affect  the  future  history  of  Andover. 
Phoebe  Foxcroft  was  of  a  prominent 
Cambridge  family,  a  woman  of  rare  gifts 
and  of  a  vivacious  nature,  but  Phoebe 
happened  to  be  nine  years  older  than  her 
lover,  and  his  parents  objected  to  their 
marriage.  It  was  only  Samuel's  illness 
after  his  graduation  that  gained  him  their 
consent.  They  were  married  in  1773,  and 
took  up  their  new  life  at  the  old  Phillips 
homestead  in  North  Andover,  and  later, 
upon  his  presidential  tour  in  1789,  Wash- 
ington visited  them.  Judge  Phillips  be- 
came interested  in  many  business  enter- 
prises, and  during  the  Revolutionary  War 
manufactured  gunpowder,  digging  salt- 
petre out  of  his  cellar.  As  owner  of  a 
grist-mill,  a  sawmill,  and  of  stores  in 
Andover  and  Methuen,  he  received  a 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES      23 

large  income.  To  his  business  ability 
were  added  qualities  of  statesmanship. 
For  fifteen  years  he  was  President  of  the 
State  Senate,  and  for  sixteen  years  Judge 
of  the  Essex  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 
He  was  an  Overseer  of  Harvard  College 
for  twenty  years,  and  the  year  before  his 
death  was  elected  Lieutenant- Governor 
of  Massachusetts.  He  won  his  greatest 
distinction,  however,  as  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  Phillips  Andover  Academy,  which 
received  more  than  one  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  from  different  members  of 
his  family.  By  his  influence,  his  uncle, 
John  Phillips  of  Exeter,  gave  liberally  to 
its  foundation,  and  at  the  same  time 
founded  a  similar  academy  at  Exeter. 

The  religious  spirit  of  his  fathers  was 
strong  in  Judge  Phillips  and  the  ruling 
motive  of  his  life.  With  a  profound  sense 
of  his  responsibility  to  God,  he  aimed  to 


24     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

apply  his  wealth  to  the  highest  and  noblest 
ends.  His  sudden  death  in  1802,  at  the 
age  of  fifty,  however,  left  his  long  cher- 
ished plans  incomplete.  His  wife,  Phoebe 
Foxcroft,  showed  both  strength  of  char- 
acter and  ability  when  she  established  in 
1808,  with  the  aid  of  her  son,  the  Andover 
Theological  Seminary. 

The  son  of  Judge  Phillips  and  Phcebe 
Foxcroft  was  John  Phillips,  the  grand- 
father of  John  Cotton  Brooks.  After  his 
graduation  from  Harvard  College  he 
studied  law,  but  on  account  of  ill  health 
gave  up  its  practice.  As  an  orator  he 
achieved  distinction  in  public  life.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  and  a 
Governor's  Aid,  but  his  part  in  the  found- 
ing of  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
was  considered  the  crowning  achieve- 
ment of  his  life.  He  married  Lydia,  the 
daughter  of  Nathaniel  Gorham  of  Charles- 


TWO  PURITAN  FAMILIES      25 

town,  and  another  daughter  married  Peter 
Chardon  Brooks  of  Medford.  Thus  John 
Phillips  and  Peter  Chardon  Brooks  were 
brothers-in-law.  It  was  at  her  uncle's 
Medford  home  that  Mary  Ann  Phillips 
came  from  Andover  to  visit,  and  there  she 
met  her  future  husband,  William  Gray 
Brooks.  They  were  the  parents  of  John 
Cotton  Brooks.  Thus  in  1833,  after  a 
period  of  a  little  more  than  two  hundred 
years,  the  direct  descendants  of  Rev. 
George  Phillips,  the  first  minister  at 
Watertown,  and  his  parishioner,  Thomas 
Brooks,  were  joined  together  in  marriage. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    EARLY   YEARS 

OF  the  six  sons  of  William  Gray  Brooks 
and  his  wife,  Mary  Ann  Phillips,  four  en- 
tered the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
John  Cotton  Brooks,  the  youngest,  was 
born  at  3  Rowe  Street  (now  a  part  of 
Chauncy  Street),  Boston,  August  29, 
1849.  On  All  Saints'  Day  of  the  same 
year  his  parents  took  him  to  St.  Paul's 
Church,  where  he  was  baptized  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Vinton. 

His  father,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  day,  kept  a  diary,  in  which  from  the 
time  of  their  birth  he  recorded  many  facts 
in  the  lives  of  his  six  sons.  He  tells  us  that 
John  weighed  nine  pounds  at  birth,  and 
walked  at  nineteen  months.  He  gives  us 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          27 

the  exact  date  of  his  inoculation  and 
states  that  it  took  well.  He  records  the 
diseases  of  his  youth.  Such  trifling  facts 
were  absurd  to  relate,  did  they  not  show  a 
devotion  and  interest  which  led  the  fond 
father  to  chronicle  in  later  years  more  im- 
portant facts,  such  as  how  his  sons  pro- 
gressed, and  when  and  where  they  began 
their  life-work.  Above  all,  such  details  tell 
us  of  parental  love  and  pride,  and  afford 
us  a  glimpse  of  the  close  relationship 
which  existed  in  the  Brooks'  household. 
At  the  age  of  six  John  was  sent  to  a  pri- 
vate school  kept  by  Miss  Capen.  As  a 
boy  he  was  very  shy,  and  on  his  first  day 
at  school  he  remained  under  the  table  and 
refused  to  come  out,  —  this  was  jokingly 
referred  to  in  after  years  by  his  brothers 
as  an  instance  of  his  youthful  modesty. 
It  must  be  left  for  the  reader  to  deter- 
mine whether  his  presence  at  a  school 


28     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

exhibition,  where  his  father  found  him 
sitting  on  the  front  settee,,  contentedly 
listening  to  the  speaking,  was  due  to  the 
passing  of  his  shyness,  or  to  his  early  thirst 
for  knowledge,  for  John  had  reached  the 
age  of  nine. 

The  fact  that  four  of  the  sons  chose  the 
ministry  is  evidence  of  the  influence  of 
their  home  training,  both  secular  and  re- 
ligious. Family  prayers  were  said  twice  a 
day,  and  on  Sunday  afternoons  the  Bible 
was  read  aloud  and  each  son  recited  a 
hymn.  The  father  kept  in  a  little  book  a 
list  of  the  hymns  learned  by  the  boys. 
John  was  very  fond  of  being  read  to  by 
his  parents.  In  later  years,  with  his  own 
children  about  him,  he  read  a  story  for 
an  hour  each  night,  and  if  some  duty  in- 
terrupted, they  would  eagerly  await  his 
return.  His  love  for  children  was  re- 
vealed in  his  fondness  for  juvenile  books. 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          29 

When  Sunday  came  the  Brooks  family 
went  regularly  to  church,  and  in  after 
years  John  laid  great  emphasis  upon  the 
church  as  a  home.  "Take  such  a  pew  as 
you  can  always  keep, "  he  said  one  day  to 
a  woman  who  was  selecting  a  pew;  "it 
will  become  a  church  home  that  your  chil- 
dren will  always  hold  sacred  after  you 
have  passed  away."  Then  his  mind  wan- 
dered back  to  his  youth,  and  he  said 
that  it  seemed  but  yesterday  since  his 
own  parents  walked  into  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Boston,  with  his  brothers  and 
himself  following  them  into  the  pew, 
where  during  their  boyhood  years  they 
spent  their  Sunday  mornings. 

In  1839,  ten  years  before  John's  birth, 
his  parents  began  to  go  to  St.  Paul's 
Episcopal  Church.  For  the  six  years  pre- 
ceding they  had  attended  the  First  Church, 
which  had  been  the  charge  of  their  ances- 


30     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

tor,  Rev.  John  Cotton,  the  first  minister 
of  Boston.  The  pastor  at  that  time,  the 
Rev.  N.  L.  Frothingham,  was  a  relative 
of  Mr.  Brooks. 

As  her  family  increased  Mrs.  Brooks 
became  deeply  solicitous  about  their  re- 
ligious training.  The  family  traditions, 
and  the  efforts  of  her  father  and  her 
grandmother,  Phoebe  Foxcroft,  in  the 
founding  of  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  made  it  difficult  for  her  to 
identify  herself  permanently  with  the  Uni- 
tarian church.  Becoming  dissatisfied,  she 
looked  about  for  another  place  of  worship. 
At  that  time  the  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  a  representative 
low  Churchman.  To  him  Mrs.  Brooks 
went  for  counsel  and  advice,  and  in  1839 
she  was  confirmed  in  the  Episcopal 
Church.  When  the  Rev.  Dr.  Vinton,  the 
foremost  preacher  in  Boston  of  his  day, 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          31 

became  rector  a  few  years  later,  there 
began  a  pastoral  relationship  with  the 
Brooks  family  that  was  to  exert  for  many 
years  a  remarkable  influence  over  the  lives 
of  its  members.  In  1847,  Mr.  Brooks, 
although  at  first  indifferent  to  a  change  in 
his  church  life,  through  the  influence  of  his 
wife  and  Doctor  Vinton,  was  also  con- 
firmed. Thus  the  Brooks  and  the  Phillips 
families  returned  to  the  Church  which 
their  ancestors  had  left  over  two  cen- 
turies before. 

John  Cotton  Brooks  strongly  resembled 
his  mother,  and  from  her  he  inherited  a 
passion  for  righteousness  and  a  devotion 
to  duty  which  were  the  chief  characteris- 
tics of  his  ministry.  Physically  he  resem- 
bled her  also,  never  robust  nor  strong, 
but  with  a  highly  organized  nervous  tem- 
perament which  kept  him  working  on, 
often  when  the  frailty  of  the  body  forbade 


32     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

it.  His  father  was  a  practical  man  of 
affairs,  —  a  strong  character,  interested 
in  the  topics  of  the  day.  A  devoted  hus- 
band and  father,  he  gave  of  his  means 
unsparingly  for  the  education  of  his  sons. 
He  was  patient  and  broad-minded,  and 
possessing  the  confidence  of  his  sons, 
he  was  always  a  wise  counselor  and  a 
most  interested  helper. 

Thus  John  Cotton  Brooks  inherited 
from  his  mother  a  desire  to  set  the  world 
aright,  and  a  devotion  to  Christ,  which 
made  him  a  faithful  shepherd  of  souls, 
while  from  his  father  came  "a  gift  for 
the  manifold  detail  of  life,"  and  that  prac- 
tical interest  in  civic  affairs  that  won  for 
him  in  after  years  the  name  of  "model 
citizen."  His  mother's  traits  and  charac- 
teristics, however,  predominated. 

When  his  brothers  grew  up  and  left 
home  for  college,  John,  as  the  youngest 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          33 

of  the  family,  became  the  special  object 
of  his  mother's  watchfulness  and  care. 
He  went  with  her  on  errands  and  to  mar- 
ket, and  theirs  was  a  close  companionship 
which  developed  in  him  a  regard  for  pa- 
rental authority  and  a  love  for  home.  In 
those  early  years  he  imbibed  her  love  for 
God  and  the  Church.  To  a  parishioner 
he  once  said,  when  she  worried  over  the 
future  of  her  boys  and  wished  that  they 
might  become  better  Churchmen,  "Don't 
be  discouraged,  it  will  come  in  good  time, 
the  discipline  of  life  will  bring  them  to  it. 
Your  example  will  not  be  lost,  for  there  is 
nothing  lost  in  God's  economy."  Was  he 
not  thinking  then  of  his  mother's  influence 
upon  his  own  life  ? 

As  the  early  years  passed,  the  older 
brothers  left  for  college,  and  the  family 
circle  became  smaller.  At  vacation  times, 
however,  when  the  boys  came  home, 

3 


34     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

there  was  plenty  of  fun,  and  none  of  his 
brothers  had  more  humor  than  John. 
The  holidays  were  times  of  special  gaiety. 
Phillips  Brooks  wrote  home  one  Thanks- 
giving Day,  "What  a  stunner  of  a  fowl. 
See  John  measuring  it  solemnly  with  his 
eye,  and  trying  to  make  out  whether  he 
or  it  is  the  biggest.  .  .  .  Here  comes  the 
pudding.  .  .  .  Well,  dinner 's  over  and 
John's  jacket  just  covers  the  small  of  his 
back."  1 

The  years  of  the  Civil  War  were  passed 
by  John  in  the  pursuit  of  his  studies  and 
preparation  for  college.  Too  young  to 
serve  as  a  soldier,  he  invariably  found 
some  place  in  the  crowds  where  he  could 
stand  and  watch  each  regiment  pass  on  to 
the  scenes  of  battle.  So  strong,  however, 
was  his  desire  to  take  an  active  part,  that 

1  Dr.  Allen's  Life  of  Phillip  Brooks,  Vol.  I,  p. 
343. 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          35 

he  went  one  day  to  Mrs.  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Dona- 
tions, and  asked  her  what  he  could  do. 
The  position  of  errand  boy  was  offered  to 
him  and  in  that  capacity  he  served  faith- 
fully. During  these  years  came  the  first 
break  in  the  family  circle,  caused  by  the 
death  of  his  brother  George  from  typhoid 
fever,  while  in  the  service  of  his  country. 
In  the  year  1867  John  was  graduated 
from  the  Latin  School  —  this  was  also  the 
year  of  his  confirmation.  In  the  fall  he 
entered  Harvard  College  without  condi- 
tions with  the  Class  of  1871.  He  studied 
hard,  and  as  his  health  gave  out  he  was 
obliged  to  obtain  a  leave  of  absence  from 
college.  He  spent  the  next  few  months 
at  a  farm  in  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  and 
while  there  his  devotion  to  the  Church 
was  shown  by  his  going  several  miles,  lan- 
tern in  hand,  to  the  evening  services  of 


36     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

the  Episcopal  Church  in  Greenfield.  Ill 
health  thus  caused  the  loss  of  a  year  at 
college,  and  the  following  autumn  he 
began  again  with  the  Class  of  1872.  At 
the  end  of  his  freshman  year  he  stood 
ninth  in  his  class.  In  those  days  class 
spirit  at  Harvard  was  different  from  what 
it  is  now,  and  it  was  harder  to  make  the 
friendships  which  are  so  important  to  the 
college  youth,  when  one  had  made  a  break 
with  his  class.  But  this  did  not  prevent  his 
making  good  progress  in  the  social  life, 
for  he  became  a  member  of  the  "Institute 
of  1770,"  of  which  his  great-grand- 
father was  first  president,  and  also  of  the 
"O.  K.,"  and  the  Society  of  Christian 
Brethren.  He  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  "Phi  Beta  Kappa,"  and  in  his 
sophomore  year  he  received  a  detur. 

The    Churchmen   of   the  College  had 
formed  the  St.  Paul's  Society,  of  which 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          37 

he  was  elected  a  president.  His  older 
brother,  Phillips  Brooks,  then  rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  Boston,  held  a  Bible  class 
at  Harvard,  and  often  addressed  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Society.  John  is  described  by 
a  classmate  as  being  at  this  time  "more 
reserved  and  less  of  a  boy  than  his  brother 
Phillips.  He  had  the  bearing  of  a  man  of 
thirty  odd,  gravely  assimilating  an  educa- 
tion, rather  than  the  reckless  gaiety  of  the 
boy.  He  ripened  early,  but  mellowed  as 
he  grew  older."  His  ill  health,  and  his 
diligence  in  his  studies  no  doubt  account 
for  the  air  of  seriousness  and  reserve  and 
lack  of  interest  in  athletics,  in  which  he 
took  no  part. 

He  was  graduated  in  1872,  and  when 
an  opportunity  to  teach  was  given  him, 
he  accepted  and  became  a  tutor  at  St. 
Mark's  School,  Southborough,  Massachu- 
setts. Here  again  his  health  obliged  him 


38     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

to  resign  after  a  few  months.  He  then 
went  West  and  spent  some  months  in  the 
employ  of  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  in  the 
woods  of  Michigan. 

His  brothers  were  now  well  settled  in 
various  positions.  William,  the  oldest, 
was  prospering  in  business  in  Boston. 
Phillips  was  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Boston.  Arthur  was  rector  of  St.  James 
Church,  Chicago,  and  Frederick  was  fast 
rising  to  a  position  of  eminence  in  the 
Church  as  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  In  1872  Frederick  went 
to  Lowell  to  obtain  a  teacher  for  the  re- 
cently established  Brooks  School  at  Cleve- 
land. On  returning  to  Boston,  his  train 
was  delayed  just  before  reaching  the 
Boston  &  Lowell  station.  He  was  anx- 
ious to  keep  an  appointment  that  evening, 
and  started  to  walk  across  the  draw- 
bridge. It  was  a  dark  and  stormy  night. 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          39 

He  was  near-sighted,  and  failing  to  see 
that  the  floor  of  the  bridge  had  been  re- 
moved for  repairs,  he  fell  through  the 
bridge  and  was  drowned.  A  week  later 
his  body  was  found  in  Boston  harbor.  His 
loss  was  greatly  felt,  for  he  was  a  man  of 
exceptional  promise,  and  had  already 
made  for  himself  a  name  in  the  Church  as 
a  preacher  of  marked  ability  and  as  a 
man  endowed  with  the  qualities  of  leader- 
ship. 

With  the  example  of  his  brothers,  the 
family  traditions,  and  his  own  home  train- 
ing, it  seemed  natural  for  John  Brooks  to 
enter  the  ministry.  As  a  leader  of  the  St. 
Paul's  Society  he  had  shown  deep  interest 
in  religious  matters  at  college,  and  the 
thought  of  entering  the  ministry  had  come 
to  him,  but  he  needed  time  to  consider  it. 
In  the  woods  of  Michigan  he  thought  out 
the  problem  by  himself.  There  he  be- 


40     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

came  convinced  that  he  would  devote  his 
life  to  the  service  of  Jesus  Christ.  De- 
termined to  enter  the  Seminary  at  the 
beginning  of  the  term,  he  walked  many 
miles  alone,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the 
guide,  through  the  Michigan  woods,  and 
traveled  home  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
work  to  which  God  had  called  him. 

The  Andover  Theological  Seminary 
offered  at  that  time  exceptional  advan- 
tages to  young  men  studying  for  the  min- 
istry. Although  it  was  a  Congregational 
school,  it  was  thought  that  a  year  spent 
there  would  be  a  good  foundation  for  the 
work  to  be  continued  elsewhere.  The 
excellence  of  the  course  in  Hebrew  espe- 
cially appealed  to  him.  So  John  Brooks 
went  to  the  Seminary  founded  by  his 
grandfather  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
Episcopal  Church.  The  following  two 
years  after  leaving  Andover  he  spent  at 


THE  EARLY  YEARS          41 

the  Philadelphia  Divinity  School,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1876. 

At  the  end  of  his  seminary  course,  a 
call  coming  to  him  from  St.  James  Church, 
Bristol,  Pennsylvania,  he  accepted  it  and 
was  ordained  as  deacon,  and  later  as 
priest  by  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  William  Bacon  Stevens,  D.D. 
His  father  has  recorded  that  his  salary 
consisted  of  fourteen  hundred  dollars  and 
a  rectory.  Soon  after  his  graduation  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Harriette  Hall  Lovett 
of  Boston,  the  daughter  of  Charles  Walley 
Lovett  and  Josephine  DeWolf  Lovett. 
His  daughter  Josephine  DeWolf  was  born 
at  Bristol. 

Here,  by  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  he 
worked  hard,  early  and  late,  calling  upon 
everybody  interested  in  the  Church.  He 
awakened  a  new  life  in  the  parish  and  his 
sermons  attracted  many  people  to  the 


42     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

Church.  In  the  midst  of  his  work,  he  and 
his  young  bride  having  been  attacked  by 
malaria,  their  physician  said  that  it  was 
imperative  for  them  to  leave  Bristol.  - 
This  was  a  hard  thing  to  do,  for  it  was  his 
first  parish  and  he  was  happy  and  success- 
ful in  his  labors.  The  vestry  accepted  his 
resignation  with  much  regret.  He  went 
from  there  to  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
to  regain  his  health,  and  later  took  tem- 
porary charge  of  St.  Gabriel's  Church. 

He  was  called  to  Christ  Church,  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts,  in  the  fall  of  1878. 
His  brother,  Phillips  Brooks,  on  hearing 
of  his  call,  said,  "Now  John,  go  to  Spring- 
field. There  is  your  life-work.  You  will 
be  Brooks  of  Springfield." 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   SPRINGFIELD 
MINISTRY 

WHEN  John  Cotton  Brooks  preached 
his  first  sermon  in  Springfield  he  was 
twenty-nine  years  of  age,  tall  and  thin, 
and  with  features  which  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  to  his  ancestor,  the  Rev. 
John  Cotton,  the  first  minister  of  Boston. 
He  entered  the  pulpit  hurriedly  and  be- 
gan to  speak  with  eager  and  rapid  utter- 
ance; his  text  was  given  out,  and  the 
sermon  begun  before  the  congregation 
had  time  to  settle  itself. 

The  youngest  of  the  Brooks  boys  was 
now  beginning  his  ministry  over  the  larg- 
est Episcopal  church  in  western  Massa- 
chusetts. The  reputation  that  his  brothers 


44     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

had  already  made  in  the  Church  was  well 
known.  It  was  natural  that  more  would 
be  expected  of  him  than  of  another  man. 
Influenced  as  he  was  by  their  example, 
his  work,  however,  was  accomplished  ac- 
cording to  his  own  ideals.  Christ  Church 
was  to  become  under  his  charge  the  sec- 
ond largest  Episcopal  church  in  New  Eng- 
land, as  his  brother  Phillips'  church  in 
Boston,  Trinity,  was  the  largest. 

The  history  of  Christ  Church  up  to  this 
time  was  a  comparatively  brief  one.  About 
the  year  1815,  the  Commandant  of  the 
United  States  Armory  was  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Roswell  Lee.  He  was  a  devout 
Churchman,  and  by  his  influence  a  few 
families  were  gathered  together  in  a  room 
of  one  of  the  Armory  buildings,  where 
services  were  held.  In  a  few  years  the 
congregation  increased.  A  parish  was  or- 
ganized and  in  1821  a  minister  was  called. 


SPRINGFIELD   MINISTRY     45 

The  Rev.  Edward  Rutledge,  the  first 
rector,  left  after  a  year's  stay,  remarking 
on  leaving  that  his  congregation,  coming 
as  it  did  from  various  parts  of  the  country 
and  also  from  different  denominations, 
did  not  show  much  harmony  of  sentiment. 
Fourteen  years  later  another  attempt  was 
made.  The  Rev.  Samuel  McBurney  was 
sent  as  missionary,  but  not  as  rector. 
His  attempt  to  establish  the  Church 
was  unsuccessful. 

In  1838  the  Rev.  Henry  W.  Lee  came 
to  Springfield,  and  held  services  in  the 
Town  Hall,  at  the  corner  of  State  and 
Market  Streets.  The  next  year  the  par- 
ish voted  to  erect  a  house  of  worship.  A 
long  subscription  list  shows  how  nobly 
the  townspeople  came  to  his  support. 
Churchmen  in  Boston,  Hartford,  and 
Lowell  made  contributions.  Five  months 
later  the  corner-stone  of  the  old  church 


46     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

on  State  Street  was  laid  by  the  Rev. 
Titus  Strong,  D.D.,  of  Greenfield,  who 
had  first  ministered  to  the  little  flock  in 
the  Armory  room.  "It  was  an  interesting 
occasion,"  said  the  young  rector  of  twenty- 
four,  thinking  no  doubt  of  his  father's 
chapel  in  the  Armory.  Bishop  Griswold 
consecrated  the  church  on  April  1,  1840. 
When  Mr.  Lee  received  a  call  from  a 
church  in  Worcester,  in  submitting  his 
offer  to  the  vestry,  it  replied  that  it  felt 
"that  his  labors  and  services  would  be  of 
as  much  value  to  the  great  interests  of 
religion  in  this  tract  of  our  Lord's  Vine- 
yard as  they  could  be  in  Worcester."  He 
declined  the  call.  After  a  ministry  of 
nine  years  he  went  as  rector  to  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Rochester,  New  York,  and  later 
he  was  elected  and  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Iowa.  He  died  in  1874.  The  Rev. 
Henry  W.  Adams  succeeded  Mr.  Lee. 


SPRINGFIELD   MINISTRY     47 

He  was  rector  for  eighteen  months.  His 
successor,  the  Rev.  A.  N.  Littlejohn,  after 
a  year  was  called  to  St.  Paul's  Church, 
New  Haven,  Connecticut.  He  was  later 
made  Bishop  of  Long  Island. 

During  the  next  two  decades  the  parish 
increased  in  strength  under  the  Rev. 
George  H.  McKnight  (1851-1859)  and  the 
Rev.  W.  S.  Child  (1859-1869).  When 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Burgess  became 
rector  in  1869,  the  parish  was  in  a  pros- 
perous condition,  and  a  new  church 
was  built  under  his  leadership.  After 
purchasing  the  present  site  of  Christ 
Church,  a  brown  stone  church  was  erected 
at  a  cost  of  seventy  thousand  dollars.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Burgess  was  elected  Bishop  of 
the  Diocese  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  in  1878. 
Thus,  in  the  short  period  of  thirty  years, 
three  of  the  rectors  of  Christ  Church  had 
become  bishops. 


48     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

When  Mr.  Brooks  became  rector  in 
December,  1878,  the  work  before  him 
was  a  difficult  one.  A  parishioner  who 
recalls  those  first  years  has  said,  "I  be- 
came so  inspired  by  his  sermons  and  his 
courage  in  meeting  the  difficulties  which 
he  encountered  on  every  side  that  I  felt  I 
must  do  all  I  could  to  help  him,  and  as 
long  as  he  lived  there  was  such  confi- 
dence between  us  that  each  one  of  his 
parishioners  knew  that  he  had  only  to 
ask  any  service  and  it  would  be  given 
gladly." 

There  was  a  debt  of  forty  thousand 
dollars  upon  the  church  building.  The 
financial  panic  of  the  seventies  had  limited 
the  resources  of  the  parish,  so  that  it  was 
difficult  to  meet  running  expenses.  More- 
over the  people  were  wearied  with  efforts 
at  raising  money.  For  four  years  Mr. 
Brooks  worked  against  great  odds.  There 


SPRINGFIELD   MINISTRY     49 

was  no  parish  house,  and  the  Sunday 
school  was  held  in  the  old  church, 
although  the  building  was  much  out  of 
repair.  The  surroundings  of  the  new 
church  were  in  marked  contrast  to  their 
present  condition,  with  a  broken  fence 
and  an  unroofed  tower,  the  new  tower, 
defective  in  construction,  having  been 
taken  down.  In  those  days  the  vestry- 
room  and  the  choir-room  were  soaked 
through  with  each  winter  storm.  It  was 
a  period  of  discouragement  for  the  first 
four  years.  Mr.  Brooks  did  little  about 
the  debt,  and  by  1882  it  had  increased  to 
forty- three  thousand  dollars.  Then  he 
made  his  first  appeal  to  his  parishioners. 
The  old  church  property  was  sold  for 
fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  Mr.  Brooks 
raised  fifteen  thousand  dollars  more. 
Thus  thirty  thousand  dollars  of  the  debt 
was  paid.  In  1895  the  debt  had  increased 


50     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  but  that 
year  it  was  reduced  seven  thousand  dol- 
lars. In  1899  a  final  appeal  was  made 
and  the  debt  was  extinguished. 

These  figures  represent  a  great  amount 
of  labor.  During  the  first  ten  years  of 
Mr.  Brooks'  ministry  the  parish  house 
was  built  at  a  cost  of  fourteen  thousand 
dollars.  It  was  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Brooks,  while  subscriptions  were  being 
solicited  for  the  parish  house,  to  turn 
from  that  work  and  give  his  attention  to 
the  raising  of  money  for  the  purchase  of 
the  land  adjoining  the  church  for  a  park, 
as  it  was  proposed  to  erect  buildings  on 
the  land  which  would  seriously  injure  the 
property  of  the  church.  Five  thousand 
dollars  was  given  by  the  members  of 
Christ  Church.  In  this  way  Mr.  Brooks 
helped  towards  the  amount  necessary  to 
obtain  the  present  public  park,  where 


CHRIST    CHURCH 


THE    PARISH    HOUSE 


SPRINGFIELD  MINISTRY     51 

Saint  Gaudens'  statue  of  that  sturdy  old 
Puritan,  Deacon  Samuel  Chapin,  stands 
with  his  back  turned  to  the  Episcopal 
church,  —  the  church  from  which  he  had 
departed  to  establish  another  in  New 
England. 

The  increasing  burdens  of  parish  work 
now  made  necessary  the  services  of  an 
assistant  minister.  By  an  increase  of  one 
thousand  dollars  in  the  pew  rentals  the 
salary  was  provided,  and  in  1886  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Dulany  Addison  was  called.  On 
his  acceptance  of  the  call  Mr.  Brooks 
wrote  him  the  following  note: 

CHBIST  CHURCH  RECTOBT, 
AprU  1st,  1886. 

DEAR  Mr.  ADDISON  :  —  I  must  write  one  word 
to  tell  you  of  the  great  joy  that  your  telegram  has 
brought  into  the  Rectory  just  as  I  am  leaving  for 
the  funeral  at  Chicopee. 

How  delightful  and  bright  my  future  work  looks 


52     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

in  having  you  with  me.  God  has  mercifully  guided 
us  both  in  all  this.  That  He  may  bless  and  sanc- 
tify us  for  his  service  in  all  our  work  is  the  constant 
prayer  through  these  days  of 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

J.  C.  BROOKS. 

In  raising  money  for  the  church,  Mr. 
Brooks  seldom,  if  ever,  went  to  a  few  rich 
individuals.  He  appealed  to  all,  both 
rich  and  poor  alike.  "The  welfare  of  our 
loved  Mother,  our  Church,"  were  his 
words  when  he  made  his  final  appeal. 
The  money  would  come  in  small  sums; 
the  working  girl  and  the  poor  man  gave 
what  they  could,  influenced  by  the  spirit 
Mr.  Brooks  had  instilled  into  their  hearts. 
A  few  dollars  would  be  left  at  the  rectory 
door  with  a  note  expressive  of  the  loving 
heart  back  of  the  gift.  One  who  heard  the 
last  appeal  has  said:  "His  heroic  efforts 
to  help  in  paying  off  the  debt  of  Christ 


SPRINGFIELD   MINISTRY     53 

Church  culminated  in  that  powerful  ad- 
dress from  the  chancel.  He  used  the  most 
powerful  imagery,  when  he  saw  the  de- 
parted spirits,  as  it  were,  of  those  who 
had  sacrificed  much  in  the  past,  walking 
down  the  aisle.  It  was  stirring  and 
telling,  and  showed  him  a  master  of  elo- 
quent pleading  for  the  welfare  of  Christ 
Church." 

This  account  of  the  financial  condition 
of  Christ  Church  is  interesting,  as  it  af- 
fords us  an  insight  into  the  material  diffi- 
culties that  burdened  nearly  all  the  years 
of  his  ministry,  but  particularly  the  first 
years.  It  tells  us  why  it  was  so  necessary 
to  centralize  his  efforts  on  Christ  Church. 
It  tells  us  why  his  ministry  was  an  inten- 
sive one.  To  the  building  up  of  Christ 
Church  he  devoted  his  life.  He  subordi- 
nated everything  else  to  that.  As  his  own 
bishop  said,  "I  have  never  known  any 


54     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

clergyman  who  gave  himself  so  completely 
and  intensely  to  a  parish." 

During  the  summer  of  1880  Mr.  Brooks 
traveled  abroad  with  his  brother  Phillips. 
While  in  England  he  preached  from  the 
pulpit  of  his  ancestor,  the  Rev.  John 
Cotton,  in  old  St.  Botolph's  Church. 
While  in  Scotland,  Phillips  Brooks  wrote 
a  letter  home  to  his  brother,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  extract.1 

DEAR  ARTHUR:  —  Here  are  John  and  I,  way 
up  in  the  Highlands,  with  everything  redolent  of 
heather  and  broom  and  gillies  and  pibrochs  and 
burns  and  tarns  and  the  "Princess  of  Thule,"  and 
that  sort  of  thing.  ...  In  London  everything  was 
very  pleasant.  Stanley  was  very  devoted,  and  put 
us  in  the  way  of  seeing  lots  of  pleasant  sights  and 
people.  I  preached  for  him  in  the  Abbey  on  the 
Fourth  of  July,  and  was  quite  shamed  with  the 

1  Dr.  Allen's  Life  of  Phillips  Brooks,  Vol.  II, 
p.  272. 


SPRINGFIELD   MINISTRY     55 

way  in  which  Farrar  in  the  afternoon  outsaid 
everything  that  I  possibly  could  have  said  about 
America.  Then  I  went  down  to  Windsor  and 
preached.  .  .  .  Last  Sunday  we  spent  in  Edinburgh 
and  heard  their  great  man  there,  a  certain  Dr. 
MacGregor.  .  .  .  John  spent  at  Boston  the  Sunday 
which  I  spent  at  Windsor,  and  preached  in  old 
St.  Botolph's  there." 

The  early  years  of  his  ministry  in 
Springfield  were  saddened  by  the  death 
of  his  mother,  and  of  his  second  child, 
who  had  been  named  after  her  grand- 
mother, Mary  Ann  Phillips.  At  this  time 
his  brother  Phillips  wrote : 

December  2,  1880. 

DEAR  JOHNNY  :  —  I  hope  that  you  will  feel 
like  coming  down  on  Monday.  I  am  sure  that  it 
will  do  you  good ;  you  know  what  a  simple,  quiet 
time  it  is.  All  the  fellows  will  be  glad  to  see  you, 
and  you  know  what  a  treat  it  will  be  to  me. 

I  have  been  thinking  of  you  all  the  time,  and 
hoping  that  you  were  happy,  and  that  everything 


56     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

was  going  well  with  you  and  H .    The  Sundays 

must  have  been  hard  enough,  and  yet  I  know  the 
work  has  helped  you.  I  am  sure  it  is  a  blessing  to 
a  minister  that  the  work  to  which  he  has  to  go 
when  he  is  in  sorrow  is  not  a  foreign  thing  which 
vexes  and  chafes  him,  but  he  is  busied  with  the 
thoughts  which  he  needs  most,  and  which  bring 
him  into  the  presence  of  God  where  he  most  wants 
to  be. 

I  am  so  glad  that  I  was  with  you  those  two  days, 
and  that  I  had  part  in  choosing  the  pleasant  spot 
where  the  body  of  your  little  child  and  my  god- 
child was  to  be  laid.  I  shall  always  be  thankful 
for  it.  How  beautiful  it  must  be  out  there  this 
bright  winter  morning."  * 

1  Dr.  Allen's  Life  of  Phillips  Brooks,  Vol.  n, 
p.  274. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   GROWTH   OF  THE   PARISH 

ONE  day  in  his  early  ministry  as  Mr. 
Brooks  was  making  parish  calls,  another 
minister  sat  beside  him  in  a  horse-car  and 
remarked  that  the  burden  of  a  large  parish 
must  be  great.  To  this  Mr.  Brooks 
replied,  "It  is  all  practicable  for  the 
man  who  does  not  take  up  too  much 
outside  work."  Throughout  his  ministry 
in  Springfield  he  lived  up  to  the  thought 
expressed  that  day.  For  this  reason  he 
did  not  give  the  Bohlen  Lectures,  when 
invited  to  do  so  in  1902.  He  refused  in- 
vitations so  constantly  to  preach  else- 
where that  his  friends  in  Boston  said, 
"He  was  always  on  the  point  of  catching 
a  train  for  Springfield."  His  brother, 


58     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

Phillips  Brooks,  used  to  say  of  him, 
"John  is  a  great  parish  priest." 

His  methods  of  work  were  along  the 
same  lines  throughout  the  whole  of  his 
ministry.  In  the  beginning  he  revised  the 
parish  lists.  He  endeavored  to  account 
for  every  name  associated  with  the  church ; 
he  divided  the  parish  into  sections, 
and  found  those  who  would  help  in  the 
work  of  calling.  He  always  carried  in 
his  pocket  a  book  with  the  names  and 
addresses  of  every  family  and  individual, 
and  he  revised  this  list  at  least  once  a 
year.  When  he  produced  a  fresh  list  of 
his  parishioners  one  day,  he  remarked, 
"My  assistant  brought  this  to  me  saying 
it  is  all  done,  and  I  said,  'Yes,  to-morrow 
they  '11  begin  to  move.' ' 

Sunday  mornings  and  evenings,  if 
strangers  happened  into  the  church,  he 
always  met  them.  Sometimes  a  visitor 


GROWTH   OF  PARISH        59 

would  remark,  "I  always  try  to  get  back 
here  on  Sunday,  so  as  to  get  your  wel- 
come." Actors  and  actresses  frequently 
came,  appreciating  his  greeting  Occa- 
sionally a  letter  from  a  distance  would  be 
received,  beginning,  "You  don't  know 
me,  but  I  feel  I  know  you,  for  I  never 
shall  forget  that  hand-shake  you  gave 
me  one  night  in  your  church."  This 
custom,  which  he  practiced  for  years, 
aided  remarkably  in  the  growth  of  the 
parish.  With  pencil  and  note-book  in 
hand  he  obtained  the  new  names  and  ad- 
dresses, and  the  following  week,  he,  or 
his  assistant,  would  make  the  first  call. 
If  possible,  he  made  the  first  call  himself. 
Before  the  beginning  of  each  service  he 
went  about  the  church  from  pew  to  pew, 
seeking  these  new-comers.  He  did  not 
meet  them  at  the  church  door.  "There 
would  be  weeks  at  a  time,"  said  one  of 


60     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

his  parishioners,  "when  he  would  pass 
my  pew  without  looking  my  way,  intent 
upon  the  stranger  who  was  in  danger  of 
getting  out  of  his  reach.  Then  he  would 
meet  me  with  both  hands  outstretched, 
and  a  cordial  greeting  which  showed 
that  his  mind  was  free  for  old  friends, 
but  at  all  times  I  knew  that  I  could  call 
upon  him  if  I  needed  him."  The  results 
of  this  personal  work  added  many  new 
families  and  individuals  to  the  parish 
every  year. 

"I  will  find  a  niche  for  you  here, 
somewhere  in  the  church,"  he  said  to 
one  who  had  recently  come  to  the  city. 
From  that  moment  the  man  felt  at  home. 
"  I  came  to  the  city  a  complete  stranger," 
said  another  man,  "and  was  not  an 
Episcopalian  (though  for  some  time  gravi- 
tating in  that  direction),  and  I  shall  never 
forget  also  that  when  I  was  a  candidate 


GROWTH   OF  PARISH        61 

for  confirmation,  he,  and  this  shows  his 
breadth  of  view,  asked  for  and  received 
my  letter  of  dismissal  from  a  Congrega- 
tional church,  treating  it  with  Christian 
courtesy."  The  words  of  another  will 
show  his  helpfulness  to  one  on  coming 
into  the  Episcopal  Church:  "Under  his 
wise  and  sympathetic  guidance  I  took 
the  step  which  severed  my  connection 
with  the  denomination  in  which  I  was 
born,  and  came  into  the  Church  where 
I  have  found  my  real  home.  It  was  for 
me  a  great  wrench,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  gentle,  wise,  and  patient  help- 
fulness of  my  dear  friend  and  rector, 
never  hurrying  or  urging  me  until  the 
time  came  when  it  was  right  and  best." 
These  words  express  his  manner  of  deal- 
ing with  a  delicate  question.  He  did  not 
urge  any  one  to  attend  his  church  unless 
he  felt  that  he  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  so. 


62     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

He  never  forgot  that  in  every  call  there 
was  a  purpose.  He  impressed  this  fact 
upon  his  assistants,  and  also  that  the 
value  of  a  call  is  not  in  its  length.  In  a 
large  parish  there  must  be  economy  in 
regard  to  time.  New  families  are  to  be 
called  upon  and  unbaptized  children  are 
to  be  looked  after,  —  "no  man  could 
impress  upon  a  mother  the  importance 
of  baptism  as  he  could,"  said  one  of  his 
assistants.  At  Easter  and  Christmas  it 
was  no  unusual  sight  to  see  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  baptisms  at  one  service.  He 
was  particular  about  sponsors,  and  was 
willing  to  accept  the  sponsorship  him- 
self. 

To  his  assistant  he  gave  the  work  of 
calling  upon  delinquent  Sunday  school 
children.  Every  child  absent  for  three 
Sundays  had  to  be  called  upon,  and  the 
reason  of  their  absence  discovered.  By 


GROWTH   OF  PARISH        63 

consistent  and  continued  calling  people 
became  interested  in  the  church,  and 
learned  to  realize  that  the  church  needed 
them.  Mr.  Brooks  would  quickly  retire 
from  a  house  when  he  found  on  calling 
that  the  family  were  attendants  elsewhere. 
He  respected  the  domain  of  other  churches, 
and  if  he  erred  it  was  from  ignorance  of 
the  situation.  When  people  showed  an 
inclination  towards  the  church,  he  was 
always  ready  to  meet  them. 

The  Bishop  visited  Christ  Church  for 
confirmation  once  a  year,  always  on  a 
Sunday  morning.  Three  months  before 
the  time  for  confirmation  a  systematic 
interviewing  of  certain  people  was  be- 
gun, and  from  time  to  time  Mr.  Brooks 
put  down  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose 
the  names  of  persons  who  were  possible 
candidates.  The  classes  were  invariably 
large,  —  in  the  last  ten  years  numbering 


64     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

from  forty-five  to  seventy-four.  No  one 
who  attended  these  services  during  Mr. 
Brooks'  ministry  would  soon  forget  them. 
To  sit  in  one's  pew  and  see  so  many 
men  and  women  arising  from  their  seats 
in  different  parts  of  the  church  and  go- 
ing forward  to  the  chancel  was  inspiring. 
Mr.  Brooks  considered  sixteen  years  of 
age  early  enough  for  confirmation.  He 
had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  each 
member  of  his  confirmation  classes,  and 
his  lectures  were  well  attended.  After 
their  confirmation  many  people  attended 
these  lectures  in  subsequent  years,  for  in 
these  talks  they  said  he  was  often  at  his 
best.  He  visited  those  who  were  not 
able  to  attend  the  lectures,  or  he  had 
them  come  to  the  rectory  study  for  in- 
struction. He  never  waited  for  people 
to  speak  to  him  about  confirmation. 
He  rarely  wrote  a  letter  on  the  subject, 


GROWTH   OF  PARISH        65 

preferring  a  personal  talk.  During  a 
pastoral  call,  a  chance  meeting  at  some 
social  occasion,  or  elsewhere,  a  mere 
word  dropped  by  chance  would  prompt 
Mr.  Brooks  on  returning  home  to  jot 
down  a  name  in  his  little  book  of  possible 
candidates  for  confirmation,  and  months 
later  this  was  used  to  bring  up  the  sub- 
ject. At  the  end  of  his  first  ten  years  in 
Christ  Church,  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  souls  had  been  confirmed.  The  com- 
municants numbered  six  hundred  and 
forty-three. 

In  all  his  work  Mr.  Brooks  was  search- 
ing for  the  individual  soul.  Pastoral  work 
means  sacred  and  confidential  relation- 
ships; by  its  nature  it  oftentimes  lies 
unrecognized  and  hidden  in  a  large 
parish,  and  yet  this  is  the  work  that 
counts.  It  made  Mr.  Brooks  a  real 
power,  not  only  in  his  own  parish,  but 


66     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

also  in  the  city  of  Springfield.  People 
knew  that  he  was  a  faithful  pastor;  they 
respected  his  care  for  the  needy,  and 
the  cheer  he  gave  to  the  sorrowing  and 
afflicted.  One  summer  a  person  inter- 
ested in  a  certain  worthy  family  came  to 
see  him  about  sending  them  away  for  the 
summer  months.  The  mother  was  ill 
and  needed  rest,  while  the  father  had  been 
unable  to  find  employment.  It  was  sug- 
gested that  if  he  could  go  with  his  family 
he  might  find  employment  in  the  country, 
and  not  return  to  require  further  aid  from 
the  parish.  "But,"  said  Mr.  Brooks  with 
warmth,  "we  want  them  to  come  back, 
they  are  just  the  kind  of  people  we  want 
in  our  church."  Later  that  family  no 
longer  needed  aid. 

Of  the  limits  of  his  parish  he  was  ever 
watchful.  No  person  lived  too  far  away 
to  receive  a  call  from  him.  Some  of  the 


GROWTH  OF  PARISH        67 

most  constant  attendants  lived  farthest 
from  the  church.  He  was  careful  about 
absenting  himself  from  the  parish,  lest 
perchance  he  might  be  needed.  How 
he  kept  up  this  work  year  in  and  year 
out  was  a  puzzle  to  many.  It  was  devo- 
tion, —  the  devoted  spirit  of  the  man. 
A  minister  who  knew  him  well,  said,  that 
after  making  a  friendly  call  upon  Mr. 
Brooks  he  came  away  feeling  humbled 
and  inspired  from  listening  to  his  talk  of 
parish  work.  Another  said  that  his  work 
was  always  in  the  essentials,  with  no  waste 
on  the  mere  machinery.  To  him,  the 
best  method  was  personal  relationship. 

Instances  of  his  helpfulness  could  be 
shown  in  various  ways.  They  all  show 
how  the  growth  of  the  parish  was  helped. 
During  the  early  days  of  his  ministry,  a 
certain  church  family,  living  at  a  distance, 
had  permitted  their  children  to  attend 


68     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

another  Sunday  school.  During  an  epi- 
demic of  diphtheria,  before  anti-toxin 
days,  several  of  the  family  were  stricken 
with  the  disease.  No  nurse  could  be 
found.  The  neighbors  were  afraid  to 
venture  near.  The  only  person  beside 
the  physician  who  entered  the  house 
was  Mr.  Brooks.  Although  he  had 
children  of  his  own,  he  was  most  faithful 
in  his  visits  and  aid,  and  when  they  re- 
covered, the  distance  to  Christ  Church 
was  not  too  great  for  them  to  attend. 

He  was  ever  on  the  alert  to  help  those 
in  sickness  or  distress,  and  he  was  prompt 
to  relieve.  He  would  consult  a  doctor  at 
once,  procure  a  nurse  and  buy  medicines, 
or  he  would  assume  the  responsibility 
himself,  if  necessary  in  some  cases,  and 
take  a  child  or  adult  direct  to  the  hospital. 
Nothing  was  too  trivial  to  escape  his 
attention  if  it  would  aid  the  suffering. 


GROWTH   OF  PARISH        69 

It  was  his  genius  for  detail,  expressed  in 
what  he  felt  was  the  Master's  work. 

The  same  spirit  of  helpfulness  was 
shown  in  his  relations  with  young  men. 
He  invited  them  to  his  study  and  talked 
over  their  aims  and  ambitions.  He  found 
money  to  help  some  to  go  to  college,  and 
while  at  college  he  made  it  his  own  busi- 
ness to  help  others  to  employment.  One 
whom  he  helped  has  written,  "He  was 
of  great  assistance  to  me.  When  I  left 
the  Springfield  High  School  I  applied  for 
a  position.  Among  my  references  I  gave 
the  name  of  Mr.  Brooks.  The  firm 
decided  that  I  could  not  have  the  position 
because  of  my  handwriting,  which  was 
then  very  poor.  When  I  told  Mr.  Brooks 
of  this,  he  called  at  the  place,  and  prom- 
ised on  my  behalf,  although  I  knew 
nothing  about  it,  that  if  they  would  give 
me  a  trial,  he  would  see  that  I  took  writing 


70     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

lessons  in  the  Springfield  Business  School. 
As  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Brooks  I 
obtained  the  position.  Without  his  assist- 
ance I  know  that  I  would  not  have  had 
the  opportunity."  He  went  from  store 
to  store  sometimes,  seeking  a  position 
for  one  of  his  parishioners. 

In  these  practical  ways  throughout  his 
ministry  he  aided  many  people,  and  as 
the  years  went  by  many  of  them  pros- 
pered, and  by  their  loyalty  to  the  church 
and  their  respect  for  him  they  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  help  others  as  he  had 
helped  them.  His  parishioners  never 
failed  to  give  him  their  loyal  and  liberal 
support  when  money  or  other  means 
were  needed  in  any  work  he  undertook 
for  the  welfare  of  others.  They  knew 
that  he  was  wise  in  his  judgment,  and 
instead  of  eliciting  criticism,  he  inspired 
them  with  confidence. 


GROWTH  OF  PARISH        71 

Thus  he  became  a  refuge  for  many  a 
man  and  many  a  woman  when  in  trouble 
or  distress.  "Unconsciously  he  became 
my  pattern,  for  if  he  could  bear  the 
anxieties  and  sorrows  of  life,  he  must  be 
sustained  by  some  power  which  I  must 
gain  to  help  me  in  my  despair.  No 
wonder  I  became  a  faithful  attendant 
upon  the  church  services,  when  I  de- 
pended upon  them  for  comfort,"  were  the 
words  of  one  of  the  many  who  recognized 
the  spiritual  power  which  was  in  John 
Brooks. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SUCCESS   OF   THE   SOCIETIES 

THE  building  of  the  parish  house 
proved  to  be  a  wise  move  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Brooks.  It  became  the  center  of  the 
parish  activities,  and  was  admirably  fitted 
for  the  work  of  the  church  organizations. 
On  the  first  floor  was  a  capacious  room, 
readily  divided  by  glass  partitions  into 
smaller  rooms,  in  which  a  fireplace  ad- 
ded an  atmosphere  of  hospitality.  Here 
the  various  societies  met,  —  the  Girls' 
Friendly  Society,  the  Woman's  Auxiliary, 
and  Junior  Branch,  the  Mother's  Club, 
the  Men's  Club,  the  Young  Communi- 
cant's Society,  the  Parish  Aid,  and  other 
organizations  from  time  to  time.  Above 
was  the  chapel,  where  the  Sunday  school 


SUCCESS   OF  SOCIETIES      73 

met  each  Sunday,  and  where  all  the  early 
communion  services  were  held.  A  well- 
furnished  chancel,  a  pipe-organ,  and 
memorial  windows  by  LaFarge  made  the 
chapel  a  place  of  worship  exceptional  in 
the  quality  of  its  furnishings,  while  the 
memorial  windows  made  it  an  object  of 
pride  to  the  people  of  the  parish.  In  these 
things  Mr.  Brooks  showed  his  artistic 
taste,  as  he  did  in  later  years,  when  by 
the  approval  of  the  donors  he  planned  the 
subjects  for  five  memorial  windows  in  the 
chancel  of  the  church. 

It  was  in  this  parish  house  that  the  first 
convention  of  the  new  Diocese  of  Western 
Massachusetts  was  held,  and  here  the 
first  bishop,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Alexander  H. 
Vinton,  D.  D.,  was  elected.  Here  also 
the  hospitality  of  Christ  Church  was 
shown  to  the  ministers  of  other  churches 
as  they  each  month  assembled  as  the 


74     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

Ministers'  Association  of  the  City  of 
Springfield. 

After  Mr.  Brooks'  death  every  society 
claimed  that  it  was  his  special  favorite, 
thus  showing  that  the  members  of  each 
organization  considered  their  society  a 
successful  one.  The  success  of  these 
societies  was  due  to  three  facts,  —  first, 
the  careful  selection  of  leaders  in  the 
work,  second,  Mr.  Brooks'  knowledge  of 
the  details  of  the  work  of  each  organiza- 
tion, and  third,  his  ability  to  impart  to 
others  his  own  enthusiasm  and  spirit,  and 
a  sense  of  their  individual  responsibility. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  one  of  the  first  to 
recognize  the  value  of  the  Girls'  Friendly 
Society,  and  to  form  a  branch  in  Massa- 
chusetts, which  from  its  inception  in 
Christ  Church,  July  3,  1888,  proved  a 
success.  Young  women,  not  only  of  the 
parish  but  also  of  other  churches,  were 


SUCCESS   OF  SOCIETIES      75 

eligible  to  membership,  and  in  a  few 
years  the  enrollment  was  over  a  hundred. 
In  this  society  might  be  found  on  Tuesday 
evenings  during  the  winter  months  classes 
pursuing  work  of  various  kinds,  such  as 
basket-making,  millinery,  and  cooking, 
and  study  on  current  events,  literature, 
and  travel.  One  evening  a  month  was 
observed  as  a  social  meeting.  Mr.  Brooks 
always  kept  a  part  of  Tuesday  evening 
free,  in  order  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
the  society,  and  the  members  appreciated 
his  interest  in  them.  "How  could  we 
help  it?"  said  one  of  the  members.  "At 
our  socials  he  was  ever  ready  to  tell  stories 
at  a  moment's  notice.  I  recall  in  parti- 
cular a  ghost  story  which  he  told  at  one 
of  our  Hallowe'en  parties,  and  it  was 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  all." 

While  spending  his  vacation  at  Andover 
one    summer,    he    was    invited    by    the 


76     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

rector  of  Christ  Church  of  that  town  to 
his  summer  home  at  Boxford.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Palmer  tells  the  following  incident: 
"I  had  invited  the  Girls'  Friendly  Society 
of  my  parish  to  Boxford,  and  also  Mr. 
Brooks,  to  take  tea  with  us.  After  tea 
some  of  the  girls  came  to  me  and  said 
that  they  were  desirous  to  have  Mr. 
Brooks  tell  them  something  about  his 
brother,  the  late  Bishop.  When  I  carried 
the  request,  he  refused.  He  said  that 
there  was  nothing  to  be  said  in  public, 
which  the  public  did  not  already  know. 
But  when  I  urged,  he  finally  consented  to 
say  just  a  few  words.  We  had  meantime 
gone  into  the  dining-room  of  the  old 
house,  with  its  low,  beam-crossed  ceiling 
and  large  fireplace.  The  girls  sat  on  the 
floor  while  he  stood  in  front  of  the  fire 
and  began  to  tell  us  about  the  life  of  the 
home,  where  he  and  his  brother  were 


SUCCESS   OF  SOCIETIES      77 

children.  Soon  he  became  rapid :  —  and 
for  nearly  an  hour  he  went  on,  recalling 
incidents  of  that  early  life  in  Boston, 
which  was  so  like  my  own  there  that  I 
could  see  again  the  center-table  of  an 
evening  with  its  astral  lamp,  and  the 
father  reading  aloud,  while  mother  and 
the  children  sat  looking  and  listening. 
The  big  fire  threw  flickering  lights  about 
the  otherwise  unlighted  room.  The  girls 
sat  rapt  in  attention,  with  hardly  a  rustle. 
His  tall  figure,  his  earnestness,  his  quick 
utterance,  his  face  strongly  lighted  on 
one  side  and  thrown  into  shadow  on  the 
other,  —  it  all  stamped  itself  on  my 
mind,  and  has  remained  as  a  clear-cut 
picture.  No  one  can  interpret  the  per- 
sonality of  another  without  revealing  his 
own,  and  in  the  description  of  Phillips 
Brooks  we  saw  John  Brooks." 

It  was  this  ability  to  adapt  himself  to 


78     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

various  occasions  and  his  ease  of  manner 
at  such  times  that  always  made  his  per- 
sonality felt,  whether  in  the  business  or 
the  social  meetings  of  the  parish.  When 
a  visiting  member  of  the  Girls'  Friendly 
Society  was  suddenly  taken  ill,  he  became 
at  once  "a  help  and  benefactor."  A 
letter  came  soon  after  from  a  member  of 
the  visiting  society  saying,  "I  do  not 
wonder  at  the  success  of  your  branch 
with  such  a  chaplain  and  rector.  I  was 
charmed  with  him  all  the  evening,  until 
his  tenderness  with  poor  Ruth  capped  the 
climax,  and  made  me  for  always  his  ardent 
admirer."  She  called  the  conference  most 
successful,  and  said,  :<  Christ  Church 
people  have  a  genius  for  conferences." 

When  the  admission  services  to  the 
Girls'  Friendly  Society  were  held,  his 
aim  was  to  make  them  impressive  and 
helpful,  and  he  talked  to  the  girls  as  if 


SUCCESS  OF  SOCIETIES      79 

they  were  his  own  children.  It  was  then 
that  many  have  said  he  was  of  the  most 
assistance  to  them.  He  seemed  to  see  the 
world  as  it  looked  to  the  schoolgirl,  the 
girl  at  home,  and  the  girl  at  work.  At 
other  times  he  would  be  ready  with  some 
suggestion  for  better  carrying  out  the 
Society's  motto,  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens."  He  helped  every  girl  that 
needed  help,  and  when  one  was  ill  he 
provided  a  bed  at  the  hospital,  if  neces- 
sary, and  made  sure  that  she  was  well 
cared  for;  he  noticed  the  careworn  and 
tired  faces  of  those  who  needed  a  vacation, 
and  made  it  possible  for  them  to  go  away 
during  the  summer  months. 

One  who  was  active  in  the  Society  for 
years  comments  upon  his  efforts  to  make  it 
a  success:  "He  would  come  to  see  me 
and  always  give  me  something  to  do.  To 
call  on  this  one  and  to  ksk  that  one  to 


80     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

attend  the  Monday  afternoon  society. 
And  when  next  we  met,  he  would  remem- 
ber to  ask  about  these  people.  I  used  to 
be  astonished  to  know  that  he  held  so 
many  details  in  his  mind.  He  told  me 
that  he  had  very  little  time  to  call  upon 
the  regular  attendants  at  church.  He 
said  that  he  needed  to  devote  himself  to 
the  new-comers,  and  those  who  could  not 
or  did  not  attend  church  regularly,  and 
that  he  thought  of  each  member  of  the 
church  in  their  relation  to  others,  and 
what  he  might  do  to  help  them.  So  when 
he  came  to  see  me,  I  knew  that  he  had 
something  for  me  to  do.  The  Society 
was  very  dear  to  him,  and  if  possible  he 
was  present  at  some  time  in  the  evening. 
I  have  heard  him  say  that  he  was  proud 
of  being  the  only  man  allowed  to  be  a  mem- 
ber. The  girls  always  felt  that  a  meeting 
was  more  enjoyable  for  his  presence.'* 


SUCCESS  OF  SOCIETIES      81 

An  instance  of  how  he  encouraged 
others,  and  planned  during  the  summer 
for  the  winter  work  is  shown  by  this 
quotation:  "I  am  exceeding  glad  to 
think  about  the  Girls'  Friendly  Society, 
as  your  welcome  letter  calls  me  to  do.  I 
like  your  circular  about  the  conferences  in 
all  respects  and  have  nothing  to  alter  or 
add.  It  is  full  and  explicit  —  but  has 
not  Northampton  a  right  to  be  included 
in  the  list  of  parishes  having  Branches? 
And  now  send  it  out  early,  and  do  not  be 
discouraged  if  but  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  parishes  respond  cordially,  for  it 
is  the  first  approach,  and  I  shall  count  on 
a  few  earnest  and  devout  women,  enough 
to  hope  for  now  —  am  looking  forward 
to  all  the  privileges  of  the  winter  work. 
I  shall  be  back  Sept.  3rd.  Have  many 
plans  to  tell  you." 

He  became  so  interested  in  the  work 

6 


82     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

of  each  society,  that  when  the  leaders  or 
members  came  to  him  they  were  always 
sure  to  find  a  ready  listener  to  all  matters 
pertaining  to  their  work,  and  the  hearty 
support  he  gave  to  each  one  made  it  the 
most  natural  thing  to  appeal  to  him.  "I 
felt  that  he  left  me  alone  almost  too 
much,"  said  one  of  the  leading  workers. 
"I  always  had  to  go  to  him,  but  when  I 
sat  down  in  the  study  for  a  talk  he  always 
made  me  feel  that  there  was  no  work  in 
the  world  so  well  worth  the  doing  as  this 
work.  And  that  a  little  part  of  that  work 
was  for  me  to  do.  He  gave  me  fresh  in- 
spiration." 

He  selected  the  leaders  for  different 
organizations  with  great  care.  Once  he 
asked  a  certain  person  to  undertake  a 
particular  work  for  which  he  felt  that  she 
was  especially  fitted.  "I  never  shall 
forget,"  she  said,  "what  a  real  help  he 


SUCCESS  OF  SOCIETIES      83 

was  to  me.  I  used  to  go  to  the  rectory 
study  with  correspondence  which  troubled 
me,  —  questions  which  worried  me, —  and 
never  was  he  too  tired  or  busy  to  hear 
and  counsel.  I  do  not  think  I  would  have 
had  the  courage  to  undertake  or  the  per- 
severance to  continue  during  those  years 
if  it  had  not  been  for  him.  I  remember 
how  he  used  to  lift  me  out  of  the  nervous 
depression  following  those  first  public 
meetings,  when  it  seemed  sometimes  as 
though  I  could  never  face  another,  and 
even  inspire  me  with  a  faint  reflection  of 
his  own  indomitable  courage.  He  always 
seemed  to  grasp  quickly  the  highest  signifi- 
cance of  things ;  he  rose  to  the  occasion 
invariably,  and  in  times  of  special  need 
we  were  never  disappointed."  From  an- 
other comes  the  same  note  of  his  ability 
to  inspire  others,  "I  would  go  from  his 
study  walking  on  air,  feeling  that  there 


84     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

was  not  anything  I  might  not  accom- 
plish of  God's  work  for  me."  He  tried  to 
make  others  realize  that  it  was  their  in- 
dividual work  that  counted,  and  he  did 
not  fail  to  let  such  people  know  that  their 
efforts  were  appreciated. 

On  Wednesdays  for  a  number  of  years 
a  company  of  forty  or  more  women  would 
assemble  at  the  parish  house.  This  was 
called  the  Mother's  Meeting,  —  practical 
talks  were  given  each  week,  sometimes 
a  short  business  meeting  was  held,  and 
afterward  there  was  a  social  tea.  Mr. 
Brooks  usually  appeared  towards  the 
end  of  the  afternoon.  One  might  think 
that  this  gathering  of  women,  represent- 
ing the  different  families  of  the  parish, 
came  together  as  a  matter  of  course.  It 
is  easy  for  an  outsider  to  get  the  idea  that 
church  organizations  grow  without  par- 
ticular effort.  Those  who  have  attended 


SUCCESS   OF  SOCIETIES      85 

church  for  years  on  Sunday  mornings, 
and  have  heard  the  notices  given  out  for 
the  various  meetings  of  the  week,  often 
think  that  that  is  enough  to  bring  people 
together.  But  church  societies  seldom 
grow  in  that  way,  —  notices  are  evidences 
of  their  existence,  and  that  is  all.  People 
who  come  from  different  parts  of  a  city, 
who  are  unlikely  to  meet  in  their  own 
neighborhood  circles,  must  be  drawn  to 
the  church  by  some  personal  influence; 
they  must  be  invited  again  and  again. 
For  years  Mr.  Brooks  and  his  assistant 
worked  along  this  line,  until  one  by  one 
the  meetings  grew.  Here,  as  well  as  in  the 
other  societies,  were  persons  to  be  con- 
sidered when  confirmation  came.  Every 
year  each  society  was  represented  in  the 
confirmation  class. 

The  influence  of  the  missionary  map 
on  the  wall  of  the  nursery  in  his  early 


86     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

Boston  home  never  ceased  to  be  felt  dur- 
ing his  life.  He  had  the  true  missionary 
spirit,  and  instilled  it  into  the  missionary 
societies  of  the  church.  "He  was  always 
interested,"  said  a  member  of  the 
Woman's  Auxiliary,  "always  inspiring, 
always  lifting  things  to  a  higher  plane  of 
thought,  —  a  higher  level  of  service.  He 
would  throw  a  society  on  its  own  resources, 
ever  desirous  that  the  members  should  be 
aware  of  his  unchanging  interest."  To 
another  member  he  said  one  day,  "Don't 
let  them  think  that  Mr.  Brooks  is  all  ab- 
sorbed in  the  new  things.  Tell  them  I 
am  just  as  interested  as  ever,  though  I 
am  not  always  able  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings." How  well  he  succeeded  from  year 
to  year  in  work  for  missions  is  evidenced 
by  the  quality  and  quantity  of  materials 
that  were  sent  away,  and  by  the  money 
that  was  raised.  It  is  not  too  much  to 


SUCCESS  OF  SOCIETIES      87 

say  that  few  ministers  have  had  a  more 
loyal  and  indefatigable  band  of  workers 
in  missionary  work  than  he. 

During  the  latter  years  of  Mr.  Brooks' 
ministry  a  Men's  Club  was  formed,  and  at 
its  meetings,  which  were  attended  some- 
times by  a  hundred  men  from  the  parish, 
men  of  note  addressed  it.  Among  these 
were  Richard  H.  Dana,  Talcott  Williams, 
Evarts  Wendell,  R.  Fulton  Cutting,  and 
Charles  S.  Hamlin.  While  the  work  of 
the  Club  was  carried  on  by  the  members, 
Mr.  Brooks  was  always  much  interested 
in  procuring  the  speakers. 

Mr.  Brooks  gave  such  loyal  support  to 
his  assistants  that  it  was  a  delight  to 
work  with  him,  and  because  of  his  ap- 
preciation of  every  honest  effort,  and  his 
own  example  and  optimism,  they  were 
spurred  on  to  better  work.  It  was  a 
work  together,  and  not  in  different  direc- 


88     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

tions.  Every  morning  he  met  his  assist- 
ant and  talked  over  with  him  the  plans 
for  the  afternoon,  as  well  as  the  work  of 
the  preceding  day.  What  one  had  ex- 
perienced, the  other  learned;  there  was 
none  of  the  superior's  air  about  Mr. 
Brooks  in  these  interviews;  his  frank 
criticisms  and  words  of  encouragement 
were  helpful  and  often  inspiring.  Fol- 
lowing the  Rev.  Daniel  Dulany  Addison, 
his  first  assistant,  came  the  Rev.  Newton 
Black,  the  Rev.  William  E.  Hayes,  the 
Rev.  Edward  L.  Atkinson,  the  Rev.  James 
DeW.  Perry,  Jr.,  the  Rev.  James  C.  Sharp, 
the  Rev.  Edmund  J.  Cleveland,  and  the 
Rev.  Donald  N.  Alexander. 

Mr.  Brooks  always  kept  in  the  closest 
touch  with  the  Sunday  school  organiza- 
tion. In  later  years  he  seldom  taught 
a  class  himself,  but  devoted  some  of 
his  time  to  hearing  the  catechism,  class 


SUCCESS   OF  SOCIETIES      89 

by  class.  Every  Monday  morning  he 
went  over  the  class  lists  of  the  Sunday 
school,  learning  thus  the  names  of  every 
scholar  and  interesting  himself  in  their 
progress  from  year  to  year.  When  it 
came  time  for  confirmation,  he  would 
often  consult  the  teachers  in  the  day 
schools  as  well  as  the  parents.  In  con- 
nection with  the  Sunday  school,  the  in- 
terest which  he  took  at  Easter  and 
Christmas  in  the  music  was  shown  by  his 
efforts  to  procure  the  best  of  carols.  One 
of  his  unique  methods  to  obtain  these 
was  to  write  to  his  clerical  friends,  asking 
for  a  copy  of  the  carol  which  was  his  Sun- 
day school's  favorite.  In  that  way  he 
obtained  the  best  from  other  churches. 

After  returning  from  his  summer  vaca- 
tion one  year  he  was  met  by  his  new 
assistant,  who  declared  that  he  did  n't 
know  what  was  going  to  be  done  about 


90     JOHN  COTTON   BROOKS 

the  Sunday  school,  as  more  than  half  of 
the  thirty  teachers  had  signified  their  in- 
tention not  to  come  back.  Mr.  Brooks 
was  amazed  at  this,  and  when  he  asked 
the  assistant  what  he  had  done,  was  an- 
swered, "I  thought  I  would  find  out  if 
they  were  intending  to  return,  so  I  wrote 
to  each  of  them  a  letter."  "No  wonder 
you  are  discouraged,"  said  Mr.  Brooks, 
"you  have  made  them  suspect  that  they 
are  not  wanted  by  your  letters."  The 
next  week  Mr.  Brooks  called  upon  each 
one  personally  and  explained  the  error  of 
his  new  assistant.  They  all  returned. 


CHAPTER  VI 

TRAITS   THAT   HELPED 

ONE  September  evening  Mr.  Brooks 
stood  upon  the  rectory  steps,  saying  good- 
by  to  a  parishioner  who  had  called  to  ob- 
tain a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  rector 
of  another  parish.  "At  this  time  of  the 
year,"  said  Mr.  Brooks,  "I  too  receive 
letters  from  other  clergymen,  saying,  — 
*  Dear  brother,  the  star  of  my  parish  has 
set."  Then,  with  a  whimsical  smile  he 
turned,  and  presenting  a  letter  that  he 
had  just  written,  jokingly  said,  "I  copied 
one  of  those.'* 

He  was  a  man  of  rare  humor  and  wit, 
and  it  was  a  blending  of  humor  and  ten- 
derness that  sweetened  his  friendships. 


92     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

Some,  who  regarded  him  only  as  a  most 
faithful  and  devoted  minister,  could  have 
had  no  suspicion  of  this  trait,  for  in  no 
sermon  or  public  address  did  he  ever  in- 
troduce a  touch  of  it:  in  them  he  spoke 
with  the  deep  earnestness  which  he 
thought  the  pressing  things  of  God's 
Kingdom  required.  But  those  who  knew 
him  as  a  man  learned  to  appreciate  with 
delight  his  rich  vein  of  wit  and  humor. 
To  a  friend  who  had  known  him  from 
college  days,  "he  bubbled  over  with 
bright  remarks,  seeing  the  attractive  and 
droll  side  of  events  and  people,  without 
one  suspicion  of  malice.  It  was  a  joy  to 
sit  with  him  for  hours  and  enjoy  his  point 
of  view,  so  pat  and  illuminating  when  our 
own  was  prosaic."  A  clergyman,  an  old 
college  friend,  said  of  him,  "I  remember 
on  a  visit  to  preach  for  me  how  our  chil- 
dren, usually  shy  of  a  visiting  parson,  and 


.S  S 

•w    * 


o 

1 1 

' 


TRAITS  THAT  HELPED      93 

deeming  his  coming  somewhat  of  an  afflic- 
tion, were  eager  to  sit  in  the  study  and 
hear  John  talk.  To  this  day  my  daughter 
remembers  the  joy  and  laughter  of  that 
visit." 

His  sense  of  humor  was  never  studied 
or  for  effect;  it  was  natural  and  sponta- 
neous. He  did  not  try  to  preserve  stories 
for  particular  occasions,  but  always  had 
one  that  was  a  propos  when  the  time  came. 
He  passed  easily  from  the  lighter  to  the 
more  serious  side  of  things,  and  was  always 
ready  to  treat  serious  matters  seriously,  — 
no  one  more  so  than  he.  By  his  sense  of 
humor,  he  would  in  a  light,  but  merciless, 
manner,  ridicule  sham  and  sentimental- 
ity, for  which  he  had  no  sympathy.  To 
tell  how  this  trait  entered  into  all  the  rela- 
tionships of  his  daily  life  would  be  to  reveal 
how  he  won  the  lifelong  friendships  of  his 
people;  how  they  learned  to  know  him 


94     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

and  love  him  as  a  man;  how  he  helped 
and  comforted  them  in  the  sorrows  and 
anxieties  of  life.  He  who  possessed  such 
a  keen  knowledge  of  care  and  trouble 
likewise  had  a  keen  sense  of  joy  and 
humor.  Like  Abraham  Lincoln,  a  hearty 
laugh  would  rest  him  and  relieve  the 
strain.  It  refreshed  John  Brooks  amid 
the  cares  of  his  own  life,  and  enabled  him 
to  bring  to  others  a  courage  and  an  op- 
timism that  often  seemed  impossible. 

"How  much  he  enjoyed  my  eightieth 
birthday,  when  he  came  with  others  to 
celebrate  it,"  said  one  of  his  parishioners, 
"and  when  Dr.  Tomkins  was  here,  Mr. 
Brooks  introduced  me  as  belonging  to  his 
infant  class."  It  was  a  rare  nature  that 
could  joke  in  such  a  light  manner,  and 
yet  be  for  years  a  respected  and  honored 
spiritual  guide. 

"I  love  to  remember  him  at  the  Christ- 


TRAITS  THAT  HELPED      95 

mas  tree  exercises,"  said  one  who  grew 
up  in  the  parish,  and  had  attended  them 
for  years.  "His  jocularity  and  wit  al- 
ways captivated  the  children,  and  grown- 
up people  as  well.  He  entered  so  heartily 
into  the  evening's  fun.  No  one  laughed 
with  more  glee  than  he,  and  no  one  had 
a  better  time."  The  next  moment  on 
such  occasions  he  might  be  found  inter- 
viewing some  boys  who  had  invited  them- 
selves to  the  festivities,  regardless  of  their 
non-union  with  the  Sunday  school  of  Christ 
Church,  or  he  might  be  found  lecturing  a 
disorderly  boy  who  knew  in  his  heart  that 
he  deserved  the  correction.  Then  he  was 
stern.  There  was  little  humor  at  such 
times.  His  strong  sense  of  what  was  right, 
and  his  high  idea  of  what  right  conduct 
should  be  in  Sunday  school  and  choir, 
made  many  a  youth  fear  him  at  times. 
But  they  would  always  find  in  him  a  friend. 


96     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

In  after  years  they  realized  that  he  had 
acted  for  their  best  good  and  interests, 
stern  and  unjust  though  they  may  have 
thought  him  at  the  time. 

He  said  one  day  to  a  small  boy  as  he 
stood  beside  his  mother  at  a  church  picnic, 
"Well, —  I  suppose  I  have  got  you  to 
bring  up,  but  after  bringing  up  your  father 
it  looks  like  a  hard  job";  and  then  said 
the  mother,  "He  was  so  funny  with  his 
witty  remarks  that  every  one  was  con- 
vulsed with  laughter."  The  two  traits 
that  struck  the  mother  who  related  the 
story  were  his  keen  wit,  and  his  fatherly 
tenderness  when  one  was  in  trouble.  "  I 
shall  never  forget,"  she  said,  "how  he 
came  here  a  sick  man  himself,  when  my 
mother  lay  dying,  and  how  he  talked  to 
me.  One  sentence  stands  out  clearly. 
'The  same  Jesus  I  have  told  you  about 
will  help  you  to  bear  this.' '  Thus,  those 


TRAITS  THAT  HELPED      97 

who  knew  the  man  saw  how  transparent 
and  frank  were  his  motives  and  how 
lovable  his  nature. 

One  summer  while  spending  his  vaca- 
tion in  Maine,  he  stopped  for  a  few  days 
at  a  boarding-house.  A  young  couple  re- 
cently married  was  present  at  the  table. 
Mr.  Brooks  kept  the  company  in  good 
spirits,  and  when  the  young  couple  was 
about  to  leave,  the  young  man  said  to 
Miss  Brooks,  "You  don't  know  what  it 
has  been  to  me  to  meet  your  father.  It 
has  been  a  perfect  revelation  to  see  what 
a  minister  can  be.  Ever  since  I  was  a  boy 
I  have  been  frightened  to  death  of  them. 
I  have  felt  that  they  could  have  nothing 
in  common  with  me." 

It  was  this  trait  that  made  his  compan- 
ionship a  delight,  and  in  his  home  it  en- 
riched the  spirit  of  his  hospitality.  To 
sit  at  his  table  after  a  Sunday  morning 


98     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

service  was  to  find  him  not  self-conscious, 
and  ill  at  ease,  thinking  over  his  work  of 
the  morning,  —  he  would  dismiss  all  that 
and  his  witticisms  would  come  forth,  mak- 
ing the  hour  a  most  joyous  one.  One  day 
he  invited  a  young  man,  who  was  a 
stranger  in  the  city,  to  dine  with  him. 
With  embarrassment  he  accepted,  expect- 
ing a  rather  somber  and  dreary  visit. 
When  at  table  Mr.  Brooks  began  a  humor- 
ous story,  a  relief  came  to  his  embarrass- 
ment, and  he  had  an  exceedingly  enjoyable 
time.  To  this  young  man  Mr.  Brooks  be- 
came a  help  in  finding  a  way  for  him  to 
enter  college.  His  friendship  began  that 
day  at  dinner. 

With  his  love  of  fun  and  buoyancy  of 
spirits  one  could  discern  that  he  was  a  man 
of  much  nicety  of  feeling,  of  high  in- 
stincts. Nothing  aroused  him  to  protest 
more  quickly  than  some  low  or  base 


TRAITS  THAT  HELPED      99 

standard.      In    everything    he    was    the 
high-minded  Christian  man. 

Another  of  his  characteristics  was  his 
love  for  children.  He  saw  to  it  himself 
that  every  detail  for  the  Christmas  enter- 
tainments was  carried  out  to  the  letter. 
Each  year  he  sent  a  little  letter  to  some 
two  hundred  children  in  the  parish  asking 
them  to  attend  the  special  Christmas 
entertainment  provided  for  the  kinder- 
garten department  of  the  Sunday  school. 
The  following  is  one  of  them : 

MY  DEAR  EUNICE  :  —  Christmas  is  coming 
next  Thursday,  and  Santa  Claus  says  he  is  coming 
to  the  Parish  House  on  Saturday  the  27th,  at  two 
o'clock,  with  lots  of  presents  for  all  the  little  girls 
and  boys  of  our  Church.  So  I  want  you  and  your 
mama  surely  to  come,  and  have  a  Christmas  party 
with  him  just  as  you  did  last  year. 

I  shall  look  for  a  little  letter  telling  me  that  you 
will  come,  and  I  hope  that  you  can,  for  we  will  all 
have  a  real  nice  time,  and  I  will  be  awfully  dis- 


100     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

appointed   if  you  don't  come.     With  a  Merry 
Christmas  and  a  Happy  New  Year, 
I  am,  Your  loving  friend, 

JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS. 

The  replies  to  these  letters  Mr.  Brooks 
treasured  and  put  carefully  away.  Each 
one  he  would  read  himself,  thus  showing 
his  delight  in  the  joy  of  the  child.  So  in 
their  earliest  years  the  children  of  his  par- 
ish learned  to  know  that  he  was  a  joyous 
man,  as  well  as  a  faithful  minister.  It 
was  one  way  of  teaching  them  the  idea  he 
preached  upon  and  talked  about  as  he 
went  from  family  to  family  in  his  pastoral 
calls,  —  that  is,  the  church  as  a  home,  the 
parish  as  a  family.  "In  my  great  big 
family  of  Christ  Church,"  he  wrote  in  a 
letter  one  year  to  the  children. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BEYOND   THE    PARISH 

JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS  was  more  than 
a  parish  priest.  As  Archdeacon,  and 
Dean  of  the  Convocation  of  Springfield, 
as  President  of  the  Union  Relief  Associa- 
tion, and  President  of  the  Ministers' 
Association  of  the  City  of  Springfield,  as 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Springfield 
Hospital,  and  in  various  charitable  in- 
stitutions of  the  city  he  proved  himself 
able  and  efficient.  He  gave  himself  with- 
out stint  to  the  city  as  well  as  to  his 
parish. 

As  Archdeacon  he  was  untiring  in 
his  efforts  to  promote  the  interests  of 
the  Church  in  Western  Massachusetts. 


102    JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

"Nothing  kept  him  back,  nothing  was  to 
him  impossible.  As  like  nothing  so 
much  as  a  great  wheel-horse  to  some 
diligence  on  an  Alpine  road.  It  was 
up-hill  strain  and  struggle,  with  tense 
nerve,  with  masterful  perseverance  and 
resolution  coming  at  last  to  the  top  of  the 
difficult  pass."  In  this  manner  spoke 
one  who  was  associated  with  him  for 
years,  —  the  Rev.  William  Wilberforce 
Newton,  D.D.,  then  rector  of  St.  Stephens 
Church,  Pittsfield.  Mr.  Brooks  became 
for  a  time  a  rural  missionary,  traveling 
over  the  Berkshire  country  and  exploring 
the  needs  and  possibilities  of  the  Church. 
At  Williamstown  he  aided  the  church 
committee  in  making  a  strong  parish  out 
of  a  struggling  mission.  A  church  was 
built  and  a  rector  called.  He  went  to 
Mt.  Holyoke  College  to  conduct  services, 
and  to  administer  Holy  Communion  to 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      103 

the  Episcopalians,  and  as  a  result  of  his 
visits  a  number  of  the  students  came  to 
Springfield  and  were  confirmed  at  Christ 
Church.  As  they  were  not  able  to  attend 
the  evening  confirmation  lectures,  they 
went  to  the  rectory  study  to  receive  in- 
struction. To  one  girl  he  wrote,  "This 
is  a  Congregational  school,  but  give  of 
your  very  best,  and  especially  do  not 
absent  yourself  from  Communion." 
When  he  preached  there  during  one  of  his 
last  visits  on  the  subject,  "Harmony  and 
peace  with  activity  and  work,"  it  ex- 
pressed what  his  own  life  had  been. 

In  the  Convocation  meetings  of  the 
Diocese  Mr.  Brooks  is  described  as  the 
life  of  the  meetings.  "He  was  enthusi- 
astic about  the  Convocation  of  the  western 
part  of  the  state,  and  how  many  con- 
ferences he  and  I  have  had,"  said  Dr. 
Lawrence  of  Stockbridge.  "He  brought 


104    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

into  the  meetings,"  said  another,  "his 
enthusiasm,  and  light-heartedness,  and 
would  pass  on  the  contagion  until  every- 
body was  in  the  best  of  spirits.  He  never 
seemed  to  think  that  religious  matters  as 
such  called  for  the  long  face  and  tired 
expression."  His  genius  for  details  was 
shown  by  the  study  he  gave  to  the  reli- 
gious statistics  and  geography  of  the 
western  part  of  Massachusetts,  for  none 
could  talk  more  intelligently  about  the 
conditions  in  the  remote  towns  of  the 
Diocese  than  he.  Some  years  later  he 
preached  before  the  clergy  at  All  Saints 
Church,  Worcester,  and  those  who  heard 
him  were  impressed  with  his  detailed 
knowledge  of  the  Diocese.  It  was  more 
than  a  mere  collection  of  data  from  pre- 
pared statistics,  for  it  showed  that  he  had 
been  over  the  country,  studied  its  pos- 
sibilities, observed  the  weakness  and  fail- 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      105 

ure  of  other  churches,  and  had  studied 
their  causes.  He  made  an  eager  plea  for 
the  Church  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  these 
people.  With  a  reverence  for  the  soil  of 
his  native  state  he  recognized  the  part 
that  missions  played  in  determining  the 
character  of  the  commonwealth.  In  re- 
gard to  diocesan  missions  he  once  said, 
"When  we  go  on  to  remember  whose 
presence  has  filled  these  fair  regions, 
whose  holy  lives  were  lived  in  them,  and 
whose  graves  yet  hallow  them  in  every 
ancient  graveyard  in  country  and  city, 
we  feel  more  intensely  still  the  need  of 
hastening  to  cleanse  and  preserve  our 
beautiful  state  as  a  fit  legacy  to  bequeath 
to  the  future." 

After  the  death  of  Bishop  Brooks  in 
1893  the  question  of  the  division  of  the 
Diocese  of  Massachusetts  arose,  for  the 
impression  prevailed  that  the  burden 


106    JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

of  the  administration  was  too  great  for 
one  man.  A  committee  was  appointed 
by  the  Diocesan  Convention  to  report 
upon  the  question  of  this  division.  But 
ancient  and  beloved  associations  were 
strong.  The  way  did  not  seem  clear  to 
accomplish  it,  and  the  question  rested 
until  1900.  Mr.  Brooks,  during  these 
years,  as  a  Massachusetts  man,  was 
frank  to  confess,  as  did  his  Bishop,  that 
he  did  not  want  the  Church  in  Massachu- 
setts to  be  divided.  Yet  he  recognized 
the  necessity  for  division,  and  gave  his 
hearty  support  to  the  cause.  He  was 
appointed  a  member  of  a  committee 
consisting  of  the  Rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Boston,  Dr.  E.  Winchester  Donald,  the 
Rev.  William  B.  Frisby  from  the  Church 
of  the  Advent,  Boston,  and  Dr.  Arthur 
Lawrence  of  Stockbridge,  and  the  follow- 
ing laymen,  Messrs.  Bent,  Choate,  Paine, 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      107 

and  Saunders,  to  consider  the  detailed 
plan  of  the  division  of  the  Diocese.  Mr. 
Brooks'  part  in  the  division  of  the  Diocese 
was  a  conspicuous  one.  After  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Diocese  of  Western  Massa- 
chusetts he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Standing  Committee,  an  office  which  he 
held  until  his  death. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  often  a  presiding 
officer,  and  as  such  he  knew  the  work 
down  to  the  minutest  details,  the  intri- 
cate questions  of  debate  that  frequently 
call  for  a  presiding  officer's  ruling  never 
confusing  him.  "  His  mind  was  as  clear 
as  a  bell  on  the  questions  at  issue.  There 
was  a  constructive  and  orderly  aspect  of 
his  mind  that  always  revealed  itself  when 
necessary,"  said  the  Rev.  Henry  B. 
Washburn,  Secretary  of  the  Standing 
Committee.  When  he  was  put  on  a 
special  committee  to  report,  he  returned 


108      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

a  report  worthy  of  acceptance.  His 
familiarity  with  the  details  and  condi- 
tions of  the  Church  in  Western  Massa- 
chusetts made  his  opinion  valuable. 

For  some  years  Mr.  Brooks  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Union  Relief  Association  of 
Springfield,  an  organization  which  was 
one  of  the  first  of  the  kind  to  be  estab- 
lished in  Massachusetts  for  the  purpose 
of  systematizing  the  charitable  work  of  a 
city  and  helping  the  ministers  as  well  as 
private  individuals  by  furnishing  facts 
concerning  persons  who  needed  aid  and 
support.  It  applied  itself  to  the  preven- 
tion of  outdoor  begging,  and  as  a  great 
deal  of  the  work  of  the  Overseers  of  the 
Poor  was  given  into  its  hands,  it  eventually 
meant  a  saving  to  the  city.  It  was  a  new 
departure  for  Springfield.  Mr.  Brooks 
became  interested  in  it  from  the  begin- 
ning, realizing  that  with  so  many  churches 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      109 

there  was  need  for  a  central  bureau  of 
information.  He  saw  in  this  association 
that  united  work  was  possible,  and  to  its 
success  he  gave  his  best  efforts,  until  it 
became  a  help  to  his  parish.  To  his 
assistant  he  wrote  one  summer,  pointing 
out  the  value  of  the  Union  Relief,  "Be 
sure  and  consult  the  secretary,  for  she  is 
invaluable  in  guarding  you  from  im- 
postors who  endeavor  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  a  new  man."  The  assistant 
was  new,  but  a  few  weeks  out  of  the  the- 
ological school,  and  he  certainly  needed 
advice,  for  strange  and  unknown  faces 
appeared  at  the  rectory  door  continu- 
ally. He  wrote  to  the  rector  for  ad- 
vice, and  received  the  following  reply, 
"I  see  that  your  tramps  are  like  all  the 
rest,  and  you  will  find  them  less  encourag- 
ing to  aid  than  our  resident  people." 
The  place  for  them  was  the  Union  Relief 


110      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

Association.  When  the  rector  returned 
from  his  vacation  the  tramps  ceased  their 
visits.  The  new  minister's  methods  had 
been  tested.  Thus  the  work  of  looking 
after  strangers  was  greatly  lightened.  A 
large  parish  situated  in  the  center  of  a 
city  is  bound  to  be  a  refuge  for  people 
of  different  kinds;  some  should  be  as- 
sisted by  the  Union  Relief  Association, 
and  others  should  be  taken  care  of  by  the 
church.  The  minister  must  use  his 
judgment  and  discretion;  in  either  case 
the  minister  notifies  the  Association,  and 
the  Association  notifies  the  minister.  In- 
dividuals and  families  are  not  able  then 
to  get  help  from  different  churches  at  the 
same  time.  Of  every  case  that  came  to 
the  secretary  of  the  Association  a  record 
was  kept.  Thus  the  sifting  process 
went  on,  and  vagrants  and  impostors 
ceased  to  be  a  care  and  problem  to  the 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      111 

ministers  of  the  city.  To  the  building  up 
of  this  work  Mr.  Brooks  gave  his  time 
and  best  efforts,  and  the  Association 
became  of  value  to  the  community  as 
well  as  to  the  clergy. 

With  the  ministers  of  the  city  Mr. 
Brooks  held  a  very  cordial  relationship. 
He  was  President  of  the  Ministers'  Asso- 
ciation of  Springfield  for  many  years,  and 
during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  the 
monthly  meetings  were  held  in  the  parish 
house  of  Christ  Church.  All  the  clergy 
of  the  city  were  eligible  for  membership. 
The  attendance  at  the  meetings  averaged 
from  fifteen  to  twenty.  Mr.  Brooks  took 
pride  in  the  fact  that  they  were  willing 
to  accept  his  hospitality,  and  the  meetings 
were  a  delight  to  him.  Theological  dif- 
ferences were  barred  out,  and  the  sub- 
jects for  discussion  were  generally  upon 
municipal  and  civic  questions.  One  year, 


JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

each  member  contributed  a  paper,  but 
Mr.  Brooks  was  urged  to  talk  on  his 
brother,  the  Bishop.  "One  might  have 
listened  to  it  all  without  suspecting  that 
there  was  any  relationship  between  them," 
declared  one  of  the  clergy.  "He  spoke  of 
him  as  you  or  I  might  have  done.  I  have 
never  heard  him  say  *  Phillips/  and  very 
seldom  'my  brother,'  but  almost  always 
'Phillips  Brooks'  or  'that  man.'  " 

Mr.  Brooks'  readiness  and  fluency  in 
speech  made  him  often  of  great  service 
in  public  meetings.  His  own  people  took 
pride  in  the  fact  that  when  he  spoke  he 
would  honor  them,  as  he  did  himself. 
He  had  ability  in  grasping  a  situation  in 
any  public  meeting,  and  he  would  strike 
the  right  note  when  others  were  at  sea. 

He  favored  high  license  as  the  wisest 
way  to  deal  with  the  liquor  problem  in 
the  city  of  Springfield.  He  was  chal- 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      113 

lenged  to  a  debate  on  the  subject,  but  his 
opponent  failed  to  appear.  At  that  time 
it  took  courage  to  take  the  stand  he  did, 
as  the  ministers,  and  many  of  the  people 
of  the  city,  were  opposed  to  his  views. 
His  standard  was  thus  sometimes  mis- 
understood, but  people  soon  learned  to 
respect  him  for  the  strength  he  showed  in 
standing  up  for  his  own  convictions.  He 
was  never  weak  or  vacillating  in  regard  to 
questions  of  civic  or  social  life.  As  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Moxom  said  of  him  after  his 
death,  "He  was  a  sound  man,  and  the 
citizens  of  Springfield  could  always  count 
on  his  support  of  any  enterprise  which 
would  promote  righteousness."  In  re- 
gard to  temperance,  he  said,  "The  word 
has  been,  and  is  abused.  It  is  a  larger 
question  than  it  looks  to  be,  not  political 
at  all.  It  is  the  question  of  moderation 
in  all  life."  He  approached  the  question 


114    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

from  the  point  where  he  said  "we  may 
see  the  whole  of  it  at  once."  He  treated 
the  subject  from  this  standpoint,  —  "A 
prohibitionist  on  the  lower  ground  will 
become  fanatical,  and  sadly  misjudge 
his  fellow-men  of  other  names.  The 
man  favoring  high  license  will,  if  he 
remains  on  that  same  lower  ground,  but 
consult  for  an  increase  in  the  city's 
treasury.  One  advocating  low  license 
will  yield  to  outside  pressure  and  political 
ambition.  Hence  it  is  faith  in  our  own 
true  worth,  ...  it 's  something  alto- 
gether inward,  nothing  outward,"  he 
declared,  "and  our  methods  by  law  are 
necessary  only  because  we  have  not  yet 
done  our  full  duty.  This  legislation  of 
ours  is  but  the  temporary  measure  to 
hold  the  evil  in  check  lest  it  overwhelm 
us  before  we  have  provided  the  true  way 
for  its  removal.  Beware  lest  the 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      115 

dam  we  put  up  cannot  hold  back  the 
flood  permanently."  From  these  words 
we  see  his  high  stand  in  regard  to  this 
question.  Any  lower  ground  than  that 
of  the  Bible  he  would  not  take,  for  it  is 
God's  ground,  and  every  other  is  man's, 
and  temporary.  He  therefore  said,  "It 
is  not  fair  to  look  to  our  city  government 
to  do  our  work  for  us." 

For  many  years  he  was  a  member  of  a 
small  coterie  of  literary  and  professional 
men  who  styled  themselves  "the  Club." 
In  later  years,  the  pressure  of  his  parish 
duties  made  it  possible  for  him  to  attend 
but  seldom,  yet  his  absence  was  com- 
mented upon  as  eloquent.  In  the  dis- 
cussions of  "the  Club,"  it  is  said  that  he 
appeared  oftentimes  as  a  zealous  cham- 
pion of  the  faith,  which  was  his  power  and 
strength.  At  one  of  the  meetings  the 
observance  of  Sunday  was  being  dis- 


116    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

cussed  from  a  variety  of  standpoints :  its 
social  utility,  its  occasional  exaggeration, 
and  so  on.  Mr.  Brooks,  coming  at  the 
end,  it  is  said,  "gave  a  most  heartfelt 
tribute  to  the  joy  Sunday  had  been  to 
him.  Such  a  source  of  happiness  and 
power,  that  to  weigh  and  measure  its 
utility  was  almost  impossible  for  him. 
The  effect  was  as  though  an  academic 
debate  on  marriage  were  closed  by  a 
happy  husband  speaking  out  of  his 
experience." 

As  the  years  passed,  and  the  parish 
became  larger,  Mr.  Brooks  found  his 
time  filled  with  parochial  duties,  yet  his 
interest  did  not  lag  in  regard  to  diocesan 
or  city  affairs.  It  has  been  said  of  him 
that  he  was  "abreast  with  the  forces  that 
would  set  the  crooked  straight  and  estab- 
lish righteousness."  He  did  not  fail  to 
recognize  the  importance  of  the  great 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      117 

moral  issues  of  the  day,  and  the  leading 
newspaper  of  his  own  city  said  of  him, 
"He  was  his  own  man,  and  although  the 
last  to  bring  politics  into  the  pulpit,  he 
felt  bound  to  bring  there  great  moral 
issues  affecting  the  nation.  One  of  his 
notable  sermons  was  preached  to  give 
Christian  judgment  against  the  republic's 
drift  into  imperialism.  It  was  indeed 
never  a  matter  of  doubt  where  John 
Brooks  stood,  if  the  occasion  called  for 
utterance.  And  it  gave  his  opinion 
weight  that  it  was  never  lightly  given, 
and  that  it  was  felt  to  be  the  conscience 
of  a  Christian  minister  that  spoke.  Never 
man  more  unmistakably  wore  the  mark 
of  his  calling,  or  less  obtrusively.  His 
manner  was  simple,  and  sincere,  and  his 
conversation  happy  and  humorous,  as 
often  as  it  was  grave  and  noble.  .  .  . 
Withal,  no  man  knew  him  well  who  did 


118    JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

not  feel  the  depth  and  height  of  his  serene 
spiritual  life.'* 

A  fitting  tribute  to  his  influence  beyond 
his  own  parish  has  been  made  by  one  who 
knew  him  for  many  years,  Mr.  Edward 
A.  Hall,  President  of  the  Society  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul,  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  Springfield.  He  said,  "I  think 
that  it  has  been  given  to  few  men  to 
command  the  opportunity  and  power,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  feel  the  inspiring  and 
dominating  purpose  to  do  good  in  the 
world  that  distinguished  his  career.  He 
had  a  genius  for  sympathy  and  com- 
passion that  was  not  limited  to  feeling  or 
verbal  expressions,  but  manifested  itself 
in  helpful  actions.  He  labored  to  make 
others  happy,  and  his  fine,  warm  Christian 
enthusiasm,  his  high  ideals,  broad  culture, 
and  ardent,  charming  personality  were 
in  themselves  a  blessing  and  joy  to  all 


BEYOND  THE  PARISH      119 

who  came  within  range  of  their  influence. 
He  was  a  strong  and  valiant  soldier  of  the 
Lord,  and  did  noble  service  in  the  cause 
of  humanity.  He  taught  by  precept  and 
example  the  spirit  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  by 
sincere  faith  and  the  helpfulness  of  ser- 
vice, so  that  his  whole  life  was  an  in- 
spiration to  all  fortunate  enough  to  come 
•within  its  glorious  influence.  His  charity 
was  as  broad  as  his  faith  in  God,  and  he 
gave  the  energy  of  his  soul  in  an  earnest 
effort  to  improve  the  religious,  moral,  and 
temporal  conditions  of  all  the  people  of 
Springfield  and  western  Massachusetts." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   PREACHER 

WITH  the  exception  of  his  speeches  at 
the  Church  Congress,  some  anniversary 
sermons,  and  various  newspaper  reports, 
none  of  Mr.  Brooks'  work  was  published. 
After  the  death  of  Bishop  Brooks  he  pre- 
pared for  the  "Century  Magazine"  some 
of  the  Bishop's  letters,  and  later  a  volume 
of  his  sermons  and  addresses. 

When  after  his  Sunday  work,  Mr. 
Brooks  returned  to  his  study,  and  re- 
marked, "Well,  I  wonder  if  anybody  was 
helped  to-day.  If  I  can  only  make  Christ 
real,"  he  made  plain  the  aim  of  his  preach- 
ing. He  once  said,  "If  I  could  lead  each 
young  life  of  our  parish  to  Christ,  the  long- 


MR.    BROOKS    IN    HIS    VESTMENTS 


THE  PREACHER  121 

ing  of  every  day  of  my  life  would  be  satis- 
fied." His  passion  to  bring  others  to 
Christ  explains  his  devotion  to  the  Church, 
his  consecration  to  his  work,  and  his  inten- 
sity as  a  preacher.  The  range  of  his  feel- 
ings was  remarkable.  It  has  been  said  of 
him,  "He  could  go  away  down  into  the 
depths  of  the  valley  with  a  sufferer,  and  was 
able  to  interpret  the  sympathy  he  really  felt 
in  a  voice  and  manner  that  were  a  part 
of  his  rich  spiritual  self."  This  faculty, 
which  he  showed  in  his  pastoral  relations, 
he  revealed  also  in  his  preaching.  He 
was  able  to  touch,  and  quicken,  and  make 
real  the  spiritual  force  in  others.  He  be- 
came himself  the  embodiment  of  a  spirit- 
ual life,  —  the  expression  of  a  spiritual 
force.  He  was  persuasive  and  uplifting, 
and  possessed  an  emotional  nature,  but 
his  thought  was  the  product  of  his  reason 
as  well  as  of  his  heart.  The  moral  im- 


122  JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

pulse  often  remained  after  the  matter  of 
the  sermon  had  evaporated. 

For  several  years  Mr.  Brooks  preached 
extempore,  at  least  once,  and  sometimes 
twice  a  Sunday,  and  these  sermons  were 
considered  by  many  more  effective  than 
his  written  work.  Likewise  in  his  Lenten 
talks,  confirmation  lectures,  and  addresses 
from  the  chancel  there  was  a  freshness  and 
spontaneity  which  preaching  from  the 
written  sermon  does  not  always  possess. 
It  has  been  said  of  him  as  a  preacher, 
"He  came  very  near  to  the  hearts  of  his 
people,  and  my  life  will  always  be  the 
richer  for  having  been  one  of  the  number." 
Another  said,  "In  the  pulpit  he  seemed 
to  me  to  be  the  true  artist.  I  could  un- 
derstand and  appreciate  the  real  soul  of 
the  man."  It  was  his  ability  to  impart  to 
others  a  sense  of  spiritual  life  and  strength 
that  called  forth  such  words. 


THE  PREACHER  123 

He  once  related  the  following  incident 
of  Phillips  Brooks :  A  minister  was  ques- 
tioning him  about  his  preaching,  when  he 
said,  "You  can  never  preach  with  any 
hope  of  lasting  impression  or  sure  results, 
unless  you  hold  fast  to  Christ  as  the  Incar- 
nate Son  of  God."  This  was  the  thought 
that  pervaded  and  dominated  the  preach- 
ing of  John  Brooks.  His  ideal  was  rooted 
in  the  Incarnate  Christ.  He  said,  "the 
revelation  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  power 
that  will  lead  men  to  salvation,  to  a  higher 
conception  of  life."  From  his  earliest 
years,  even  to  the  end  of  his  ministry,  he 
talked  of  perfection,  —  "it  is  an  instinc- 
tive desire  implanted  in  every  life." 
Humanity  hungers  for  righteousness,  and 
Christ  alone  can  satisfy.  It  was  his  be- 
lief in  the  efficacy  of  this  ideal  which  gave 
conviction  and  persuasion  to  his  preach- 
ing, and  brought  the  "sure  results." 


124     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

His  preaching  never  left  a  question  as 
to  where  he  stood  on  the  fundamental 
ideas  of  the  Christian  faith.  To  him, 
God  was  a  loving  Father,  and  religion 
meant  the  gaining  of  loving  help  and 
strength.  He  told  from  his  pulpit  the 
love  of  his  heavenly  Father  with  as  much 
faith  and  conviction  as  he  did  when  he 
knelt  by  the  bedside  of  a  dying  loved  one, 
and  said  so  tenderly,  "Our  Father  who 
art  in  Heaven,  .  .  .  '  In  Christ  he  found 
his  Father's  love,  in  Christ  he  saw  the 
perfect  life,  and  in  Christ  too,  he  saw  the 
possibility  of  a  nobler  life  for  every  man. 
To  follow  this  thought  in  his  preaching 
would  be  to  show  how  he  emphasized  the 
spiritual  worth  of  the  individual.  Listen 
to  his  words  on  social  relations,  —  "It  is 
with  the  mother  and  the  child  in  the  home, 
with  friend  and  friend  in  personal  inter- 
course, and  man  with  man  in  the  close  re- 


THE  PREACHER  125 

lationship  of  life  that  this  world  is  to  be 
saved  and  evil  conquered."  In  speaking 
of  the  work  of  missions,  he  said,  "It  is 
always  the  individual  life  and  character 
and  consecration  which  wins  the  battles 
for  humanity  and  carries  the  race  onward." 
Again,  "Oh,  how  the  Jerusalems  of  our 
life  of  to-day,  the  possible  cities  of  the  great 
King,  need  to  discover  the  larger  Christ. 
Our  theology  must  find  Him.  Our  Church 
needs  to  rediscover  Him." 

Some  of  the  subjects  of  his  sermons 
suggest  the  character  of  his  preaching: 
"Personal  knowledge  of  Christ  necessary 
to  withstand  argument,"  "The  power  of 
individual  goodness,"  "The  contrast  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  world,"  "The 
ideal  of  the  Christian,  and  the  assurance 
of  attaining  it,"  "The  danger  lest  the 
Christian  life  become  an  unsympathetic 
doing  of  duties  for  low  ends,"  "The  essen- 


126     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

tials  of  true  family  life."  During  the 
Lenten  season  he  made  addresses  upon 
such  subjects  as,  "The  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  "Examples  of 
heroism  in  the  Christian  life,"  and  "The 
soul  of  man  in  its  relationship  to  God  as 
expressed  in  the  Psalms  of  David." 

His  talks  to  children,  which  he  gave 
each  year  during  Lent,  were  along  similar 
lines  of  thought;  for  instance,  "Jesus  the 
children's  Savior"  and  "What  men  and 
women  have  borne  for  the  Christian  faith." 

Memories  of  his  early  years,  when  in 
the  family  circle  the  Bible  was  read,  were 
ever  with  him.  When  we  think  of  his 
ancestors,  of  those  men  who  loved  and 
revered  God's  word,  and  shaped  their 
lives  and  conduct  according  to  its  precepts, 
it  is  natural  to  find  in  him  a  profound  re- 
gard and  love  for  the  Scriptures.  Here 
was  God's  great  storehouse  of  spiritual 


THE  PREACHER  127 

.facts,  which  he  studied  diligently,  and 
used  for  the  purpose  of  character  building. 
He  tried  to  have  his  people  see  their  own 
lives  reflected  in  familiar  biblical  scenes. 
The  Bible  was  his  proving  ground  for  all 
questions  of  social,  moral,  and  intellectual 
life.  "Each  word  seems  as  real  and  as 
necessary  for  us  as  though  our  ears  were 
the  first  to  hear  them,"  he  said. 

No  man  welcomed  with  more  joy  and 
gladness  than  Mr.  Brooks  the  advance 
that  had  been  made  out  of  the  old  theology 
of  his  fathers,  but  it  troubled  him  when 
he  saw  the  tendency  of  men  to  mistake 
carelessness  and  indifference  to  God  for 
freedom  from  fear.  He  saw  men  calling 
themselves  Christians,  but  ceasing  to 
learn  more  of  the  character  of  God. 
Speaking  of  the  influence  of  the  Calvin- 
istic  theology  upon  the  Puritans,  he  said: 
"To  Him  and  to  His  laws  they  bowed  in 


128     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

perfect  loyalty  in  every  relationship  of 
life.  They  were  proud  to  be  led  captive 
at  His  chariot-wheels,  and  felt  no  hum- 
bling or  shame,  but  peace  and  rest  in 
union  with  the  Almighty.  Herein  sprang 
surely  the  sweetest,  noblest  virtues  of 
right-doing,  —  purity,  constancy,  fearless- 
ness, patience,  shall  we  forget  these,  and 
let  their  misjudgment  as  to  God's  law 
oftentimes,  shut  out  the  vision  of  those 
sweet-faced  women,  and  strong,  grave, 
earnest  men  of  conviction  which  they  have 
left  behind  them  for  us  to  wonder  at,  and 
envy  in  these  days  ?  That  is  what  loyalty, 
and  obedience  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
right-doing,  as  they  thought  that  they 
knew  His  law,  brought  forth.  It  does  not 
seem  altogether  strange  and  absurd  when 
we  regard  them  thus,  that  John  Cotton 
said  that  he  loved  to  have  a  taste  of  John 
Calvin  before  he  went  to  bed  at  night. 


THE  PREACHER  129 

It  assured  him  of  safety,  we  may  believe, 
in  the  arms  of  the  great  and  mighty  God, 
to  whose  service  he  had  given  his  life. 
Would  we  not  all  like  to  have  such  a  feel- 
ing about  God,  whose  we  are,  and  whom 
we  serve?" 

This  picture  is  interesting,  for  it  affords 
us  a  glimpse  of  Mr.  Brooks'  spiritual  na- 
ture, his  regard  for  conduct,  and  his  rev- 
erence for  the  past.  The  Puritan  influence 
upon  him  is  shown  in  his  unceasing  regard 
for  God's  will,  "the  Law,"  obedience, 
and  kindred  themes,  —  subjects  upon 
which  he  preached  many  sermons. 

Such  thoughts  as  these  were  charac- 
teristic of  him:  "To  love  the  law  and 
to  rejoice  in  it  is  the  true  aim,  otherwise 
it  is  not  a  true  vision  of  God,"  and  "the 
insistence  of  every  life  ought  to  consist  in 
this,  that  I  do  my  duty,  and  not  only  do  it, 
but  in  my  sentiments  become  like  the  law. 


130    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

I  am  not  only  to  do  good,  but  to  be  good." 
He  endeavored  to  learn  the  character  of 
God,  as  he  followed  His  will  and  His  law. 
The  manner  in  which  he  connected  the- 
ology with  life  prompted  a  Congregational 
clergyman  to  remark  that  Mr.  Brooks 
"was  a  little  strenuous  in  his  theology." 
It  was,  however,  his  profound  sense  of  duty 
and  responsibility  to  God  and  Christ  that 
often  gave  to  his  sermons  this  doctrinal 
aspect.  He  aimed,  not  to  entertain  or 
make  his  preaching  popular,  but  to  in- 
struct in  God's  word,  to  arouse  the  con- 
science, and  to  make  real  God  and  Christ 
to  men. 

Mr.  Brooks  was  called  upon  at  one  time 
to  read  before  the  literary  club  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  an  essay  on  the  subject  of 
the  Church  and  the  Sacraments.  He  en- 
deavored to  present  the  "simplest  com- 
plete idea  of  the  Church.'*  He  quoted  one 


THE  PREACHER  131 

verse  which  seemed  to  convey  concisely 
the  whole  story  of  how  the  Church  came 
into  being,  —  "Because  I  live,  ye  shall 
live  also."  He  said,  "The  Church  was, 
and  is,  and  ever  shall  be  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  Christ's  Incarnation,  —  it  was 
something  grown  out  of  his  previous  ex- 
istence. It  became  a  brotherhood  of  men 
worshiping  Christ  as  their  revelation  of 
the  Highest,  that  is  God."  Of  the  Sacra- 
ments, he  said,  "Christ  needed  to  establish 
but  two  forms  to  sustain  the  Church's 
healthful  life.  One  should  establish  fit- 
ness for  entrance  into  the  Church  by  a 
confession  of  faith  in  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  and  therefore  acceptance  of 
relation  with  Him.  The  other  should 
supply  a  never-ceasing  source  of  com- 
munion with  the  brethren  and  the  As- 
cended Lord.  These  two  sacraments  link 
the  person  partaking  of  them  with  the  per- 


132      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

sonal  Christ,  and  with  Him  alone,  —  bap- 
tism with  Him  as  an  historical  existence  in 
Whom  he  believes  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
with  Him  as  a  spiritual  existence  with 
Whom  he  daily  lives." 

More  and  more  in  later  years  the  mys- 
tery of  the  Holy  Eucharist  occupied  the 
central  place  in  his  preaching.  In  it  he 
found  a  strength  and  power ;  Christ  was 
present,  real  and  living,  and  he  sought  to 
impart  to  others  the  truth  of  this  sustaining 
spiritual  help,  as  those  who  listened  to  him 
bear  witness.  He  said,  "God  comes  to  us 
in  Christ  in  this  Sacrament.  He  enters 
into  our  imperfect  life.  He  accepts  the 
dwelling  place  which  we  have  to  offer. 
The  dear  Lord  answers  our  prayer,  and 
comes,  almighty  to  deliver.  He  occupies 
our  life  by  satisfying  its  standards  and 
wants,  and  makes  of  it  a  spiritual  place 
once  more.  —  Christ  becomes  present  by 


THE  PREACHER  133 

an  invisible  though  most  real  communion 
with  Him.  He  communicates  Himself 
to  His  faithful  people  in  the  closest  of 
all  unions." 

His  views  on  the  services  of  the  Church 
were  what  might  be  expected  from  an 
evangelical  training.  He  loved  the  ser- 
vice, simple  and  free  from  ritual.  The 
Prayer  Book,  with  its  emphasis  upon  wor- 
ship, he  treasured,  and  he  followed  its 
rubrics  faithfully;  so  great  was  his  love 
for  it  that  he  disliked  to  shorten  the  ser- 
vices, even  when  the  Prayer  Book  itself 
permitted  him  to  do  so. 

Naturalness,  simplicity,  and  stability 
were  to  Mr.  Brooks  the  glory  of  the 
Church.  He  felt  that  man's  needs  for 
orderly  government  were  fulfilled  in  her 
threefold  ministry.  "It  is  that  body 
handed  down  by  the  Apostles,  and  which 
has  so  remained  to  the  present  day,"  he 


134      JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

said ;  and  to  him  she  was  the  guardian  of 
the  Scriptures,  while  in  her  creeds  were 
preserved  the  records  of  a  loving  God, 
with  which  she  defends  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  the  following  extract  from  a  sermon 
on  the  Church,  Mr.  Brooks  tells  of  his 
ideals  of  the  ministry,  and  the  relation  of 
minister  and  people.  His  text  is  from  the 
tenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
the  twenty-first  verse,  —  "Then  Peter 
went  down  to  the  men  which  were  sent 
unto  him  from  Cornelius;  and  said,  *  Be- 
hold, I  am  he  whom  ye  seek :  what  is  the 
cause  wherefore  ye  are  come  ? ' ' 

In  the  course  of  his  sermon,  he  said : 
"Now  all  this  scene  as  it  unfolds  itself 
before  my  mind,  my  people,  images  for 
me  the  Christian  Church  in  its  simplicity, 
and  its  fullness.  Here  we  find  the  begin- 
ning of  the  great  Church  of  the  world. 


THE   PREACHER  135 

Here  is  a  congregation,  a  meeting  of 
minister  and  people,  a  coming  together 
just  as  you  and  I  have  come  together 
this  morning.  In  Simon  Peter's  position 
in  that  meeting  I  feel  that  we  should  find 
very  grave  lessons  as  to  the  Christian 
ministry,  lessons  which  we  need  to  learn 
over  again  in  every  new  age.  A  minister 
should  come  to  his  people  straight  from 
the  presence  of  God,  with  one  simple 
thing  to  offer,  and  that  one  of  which  his 
whole  being  is  full,  namely,  the  story  of 
the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ.  His 
one  work  should  be  to  tell  that  over  and 
over  to  men,  in  whatever  form  he  can 
find  expression  for  it.  And  also,  the  true 
minister  comes  with  the  grand  respect  for 
man,  and  as  man  which  Simon  brought 
from  the  presence  of  God  to  Cornelius. 
Unless  I  feel  the  intrinsic  worth  of  every 
human  life  to  which  I  speak,  based  upon 


136      JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

its  right  and  ability  to  hear  and  make  its 
own  the  simple  story  of  the  Son  of  God, 
I  am  on  a  low  plane  indeed  of  the  ministry. 
My  friends,  you  will  understand  me  when 
I  say  that  I  sometimes  feel  that  you  do 
not  allow  me  to  be  all  that  my  holiest 
ambition  would  have  me  be  in  this  respect. 
"Each  year,  and  peculiarly  at  the  con- 
firmation season,  I  feel  the  dread  creep 
over  me  that  I  am  losing  my  high  estimate 
of  the  worth  of  man  as  man  lying  in  his 
title  to  take  the  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ  into  his  life.  Like  Simon  Peter,  I 
go  to  God,  and  hear  the  blessed  truth 
from  the  divine  lips,  that  all  men  are 
worthy  of  the  privilege,  and  then  I  put 
the  question  with  more  and  more  of 
trembling  as  my  ministry  advances,  *  What 
is  the  cause  wherefore  ye  are  come?' 
longing  for  the  answer  from  your  lips 
that  you  have  come  to  receive  from 


THE  PREACHER  137 

your  minister  and  to  acknowledge  as 
your  own  henceforth  that  which  alone  it 
is  my  honor  and  privilege  to  give  you. 
There  have  come  from  time  to  time 
responses  from  some  which  have  cheered 
my  faith  in  my  high  ideal  of  the  ministry, 
but  too  often  the  cause  wherefore  ye  have 
come  has  been  a  lower  one  than  your 
dignity  entitled  you  to  seek,  and  some- 
thing which  it  was  not  the  glory  of  my 
Christian  ministry  to  provide.  Often  as 
I  say  to  my  parishioners,  man  or  woman, 
young  or  old,  'what  is  the  cause  wherefore 
ye  are  come  to  the  Church  ? '  —  hoping 
eagerly  to  hear,  'because  I  would  learn 
of  and  become  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,' 
—  I  have  heard  instead  the  life  declare 
itself  unworthy  of  assuming  its  only  real 
dignity  of  confessing  a  knowledge  of  Him, 
and  say  that  music  or  family  connection, 
or  sociability,  or  even  convenience  was 


138      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

the  cause.  Can  you  not  see,  now  at  least, 
what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  you  sadly 
lower  sometimes  the  ideal  ministry  of 
your  rector  ?  The  Church  in  the  thought 
of  your  minister  is  intended  for  only  one 
thing,  the  giving  of  the  Gospel  to  every 
man.  Would  you  have  him  exchange 
that  conception  of  his  calling  for  a  lower 
one,  and  do  you  think  that  this  change 
would  elevate  or  degrade  his  ministering 
among  you  ?  .  .  . 

"I  rejoice  in  all  that  you  have  so  richly 
given  me,  your  loving  friendship,  your 
respect,  and  loyal  confidence,  your  sym- 
pathy and  support  in  the  affairs  of  the 
church.  But  are  there  not  those  here, 
who,  in  their  own  lives  or  in  those  of  their 
families,  might  assign  to  me  a  nobler 
position  as  their  minister  by  seeking  to 
meet  me,  and  have  their  children  meet 
me  as  Cornelius  sought  Simon  Peter, 


THE  PREACHER  139 

saying,  'Now,  therefore,  are  we  all  here 
present  before  God,  to  hear  all  things 
that  are  commanded  thee  of  God '  ? 
Such  uniting  of  parishioners  and  minister 
can  only  come  about  by  each  starting 
from  the  presence  of  the  angel  of  God, 
whispering  to  each  the  message  of  in- 
completeness of  life,  however  devout, 
God-fearing,  generous,  and  prayerful  it 
may  be,  without  the  simple  story  of 
Christ's  life  and  death  heard  and  accepted 
in  it.  ... 

"My  people,  I  believe  and  feel  sure 
that  we  have  come  to  make  our  whole 
church  relation  too  confused  and  too  low. 
The  church  is  one  where  minister  and 
people  come  together  for  no  other  reason 
save  the  highest,  and  the  simplest,  because 
Jesus  Christ  has  lived,  and  died,  and 
risen  again.  .  .  .  Such  I  would  have  my 
church  to  be. " 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   MINISTER   OF   CONSOLATION 

IN  the  time  of  death  and  affliction  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Brooks  was  anxiously 
awaited.  It  was  his  rule  to  drop  every- 
thing else,  and  go  at  once  to  a  bereaved 
family.  He  possessed  a  remarkable  abil- 
ity to  say  the  right  word  and  he  was  strong 
in  bringing  comfort  to  others.  It  always 
grieved  him  when  people  did  not  let  him 
know  of  their  troubles  at  once,  but  there 
are  some  in  every  parish  who  expect  the 
minister  to  know  of  their  troubles  by 
some  indirect  means.  Thus  he  was 
sometimes  unjustly  blamed  for  his  un- 
conscious remissness,  but  John  Brooks 
expected  that,  and  it  did  not  deter  him 
from  doing  his  best  to  bring  help  and 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   141 

courage  to  others.  He  once  said  that  he 
was  almost  sorry  when  people  got  well, 
or  out  of  their  troubles,  because  he  was 
then  not  so  free  to  speak  to  them  of  higher 
things  and  of  God.  "During  our  time  of 
sorrow  and  sadness,  he  was  always  com- 
ing to  help  us,"  said  one  of  his  parishion- 
ers. "I  remember  one  thing  that  stands 
out  clearly  as  illustrative  of  his  faith,  — 
it  was  after  our  dear  mother's  death,  and 
he  was  telling  me  that  I  must  not  grieve. 
—  'Why,'  said  he,  'so  many  of  my  family 
have  gone  that  I  feel  exactly  as  if  they 
had  gone  to  a  new  country,  and  I  am  sim- 
ply staying  behind  a  little  while  to  pack  up 
the  last  luggage,  and  follow  after  them.' 
So  often  have  I  recalled  that  speech,  and 
the  glad  light  in  his  eyes  that  told  it  would 
be  really  a  welcome  moment  when  it 
came  time  to  start."  So  John  Brooks 
went  to  the  sorrowing  homes  of  his  peo- 


142    JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

pie,  and  gave  out  of  his  own  experience, 
and  the  faith  of  his  fathers,  a  strength  and 
courage  in  words  that  were  convincing 
and  comforting. 

The  manner  in  which  he  endured  sor- 
rows in  his  own  family  life  is  shown  by 
some  of  his  letters.  Like  his  mother,  when 
greatly  moved,  he  would  often  put  his 
feelings  on  paper.  After  the  death  of  his 
brother  Phillips,  he  wrote  the  following : 

CHRIST  CHURCH  RECTORY, 
January  31,  1893. 

MY  DEAR  MRS. :  I  am  so  grateful  to  you 

for  your  dear  and  loving  words  of  comfort  and 
strength,  which  I  found  waiting  for  me  as  the  mes- 
sage of  remembrance  from  you  and  your  husband, 
when  I  returned  Friday  night.  They  did  bring  me 
great  strength,  for  all  this  mysterious,  and  at  first 
remarkable  experience  of  loss  has  gradually  been 
growing  clearer  to  me,  and  is  showing  me  the  glory 
of  life  as  manifested  in  this  life  that  is  gone. 

I  find  myself  longing  to  reach  men  more  closely, 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   143 

and  bring  to  them  more  than  ever  his  one  great 
message,  now  that  his  lips  are  closed,  —  the  mes- 
sage of  their  sonship  to  God,  which  he  learned 
from  Christ  as  the  truth  which  belongs  to  every 
man.  You  can  see  therefore  how  welcome  was 
the  voice  of  a  friend  just  then  to  tell  me  of  my  own 
peculiar  privileges,  and  opportunities  with  the 
lives  of  my  own  dear  people,  and  precious  as  the 
letters  of  my  other  friends  have  been,  yet  those 
of  my  parishioners  have  been  so  far  more  than 
all  others  as  bringing,  it  seemed,  God's  voice 
telling  me  that  what  I  longed  to  be  and  do,  now 
I  had  the  chance  to  be  and  do. 

How  good  it  is  to  feel  that  that  life,  whose  work 
we  have  now  to  take  up,  and  do  our  share  of,  was 
so  grandly  simple  that  it  is  no  hard  study  for  us  to 
find  its  secret  It  was  just  living  loyal  to  the  truth 
about  himself,  and  about  all  other  men  which  God 
in  Christ  revealed  to  him. 

I  cannot  but  think  how  that  missionary  meet- 
ing of  yours  next  week  is  going  to  be  just  what 
we  need  at  this  time  to  emphasize  that  one 
thought. 


144     JOHN    COTTON  BROOKS 

Again  with  warmest  thanks  to  you  both  for  all 
that  you  are  to  me,  and  allow  me  to  be  to  you. 

How  impersonal  is  his  allusion  to  his 
brother,  he  does  not  mention  his  name, 
simply  "that  life" !  The  secret  of  Phillips 
Brooks'  life  he  tells  us  is  "just  living  the 
truth  about  himself  and  about  all  other 
men  which  God  in  Christ  revealed  to 
him."  And  so  he  went  on  in  his  parish 
being  and  doing  for  "my  own  dear 
people."  His  mention  of  the  missionary 
meeting  shows  his  deep  desire  to  bring 
all  the  work  of  the  parish  into  harmony 
with  his  own  love  for  Christ,  and  for 
"this  life  that  is  gone."  The  death  of 
his  brother  was  a  great  loss  to  him.  He 
said  at  that  time,  "I  have  been  doubly 
bereaved,  I  have  lost  my  brother  and  my 
Bishop,  and  one  who  was  like  a  father  to 
me.  Seventeen  years  my  senior,  he  was 
my  authority  in  all  things,  and  my  truest 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   145 

friend."  In  the  early  years  Phillips  as 
a  schoolboy  would  return  from  school 
and  call  for  the  baby,  or  Johnny,  as  he 
called  him  even  when  he  became  a  man. 
Throughout  his  life  Phillips  had  been 
his  counselor  and  guide.  He  had  advised 
him  in  his  college  days,  had  gone  to  Eu- 
rope with  him,  and  had  come  to  Spring- 
field to  preach  for  him.  All  those  years 
he  had  taken  great  pride  in  "Johnny's" 
ministry  and  successes. 

Two  years  later,  in  the  summer  of 
1895,  his  brother  Arthur  died.  He  was 
rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Incarnation 
in  New  York  City,  and  is  remembered 
by  his  work  for  the  education  of  women, 
as  it  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that 
Barnard  College  was  placed  on  a  success- 
ful footing.  He  was  an  able  preacher  and 
a  leader  in  diocesan  affairs.  After  the 

death  of  Phillips  Brooks  he  undertook 
10 


146     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

the  work  of  writing  his  life,  but  his  health 
failed,  and  going  abroad  he  died  on  the 
return  voyage.  As  the  steamer  bearing 
his  body  approached  the  dock,  John 
Brooks  called  out  to  the  captain,  "Is  all 
well,"  and  he  replied,  "All  is  well."  But 
the  tone  of  the  captain's  voice  told  him 
that  his  brother  Arthur  was  dead.  Thus 
three  of  the  Brooks  brothers  had  died  in 
the  service  of  the  Master.  John  was  the 
only  one  of  the  four  ministers  of  that 
noble  group  left  to  carry  on  the  work  and 
preach  the  message  they  had  lived  to 
bear  to  men. 

A  letter  written  shortly  after  his  brother 
Arthur's  death  reads  as  follows: 

MABION,  MASSACHUSETTS, 
July  31,  1895. 

DEAR  MRS. :  I  thank  you  and  your  hus- 
band most  warmly  for  your  kind  and  sympathizing 
words  in  the  great  affliction  which  has  come  to  me, 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   147 

telling  how  much  you  were  thinking  of  me  during 
those  long  days  of  suspense  and  sorrow. 

It  was  comforting  to  know  of  human  love  spring- 
ing so  quickly  to  cheer  and  help,  and  then  the 
thought  came,  if  such  was  human  love,  what  must 
God's  love  be  in  it  all  ?  It  has  been  very,  very  hard 
to  understand  all  that  God  has  been  revealing  to 
us  in  these  sad  days,  but  I  do  not  expect  to  do  so 
now.  I  am  sure  that  He  wants  all  life  for  his  ser- 
vice, and  so  there  must  be  some  far  greater  work 
somewhere  for  which  He  has  wanted  my  brother 
as  He  did  the  three  others,  but  that  He  wants  me 
to  stay  here  and  finish  the  work  that  He  has  given 
me  to  do. 

After  his  brothers'  deaths  Mr.  Brooks 
each  time  settled  down  to  his  work  with 
a  renewed  earnestness  and  power,  which 
showed  in  his  preaching,  which  became 
more  eager,  and  full  of  passion  for  Christ. 
From  his  parishioners  came  a  love  and 
sympathy  that  only  tended  to  endear 
them  more  and  more  to  him.  In  all  his 


148    JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

sorrow  he  retained  his  marvelous  op- 
timism and  cheer.  He  seemed  to  be 
spurred  on  to  higher  and  better  service. 
One  evening  after  the  Bishop's  death, 
two  of  his  parishioners  went  to  his  study 
to  express  their  sympathy.  "Not  once 
did  he  strike  the  note  of  personal  loss," 
one  said.  "How  uplifted,  how  even 
cheery  he  was,  and  the  burden  of  his 
talk  was  —  'Now  that  he  is  gone  there  is 
all  the  more  for  the  rest  of  us  to  do.  We 
must  all  work  as  hard  as  we  can  to  make 
up  for  losing  him.' '  Thus  it  was  for 
him  a  lesson  of  greater  and  nobler  service. 
During  these  years  his  wife  was  an 
invalid,  and  to  her  he  was  most  devoted. 
He  once  said  to  one  who  spoke  of  missing 
her  in  the  life  of  the  parish,  "No  one 
knows  what  my  wife  has  been  to  me. 
She  has  been  my  inspiration  since  the 
first  day  I  met  her,  and  always  will  be  as 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   149 

long  as  we  live,  whether  she  is  ill  or  well. 
She  is  that  unique  combination  of  gentle- 
ness and  strength  which  produces  a 
character  of  rare  beauty  and  power.  It 
seems  a  pity  that  the  world  should  lose 
her  influence  for  so  many  years." 

After  the  death  of  his  brother  Arthur, 
his  health  was  not  good;  he  had  worked 
along  for  years  with  an  energy  and  force 
that  were  remarkable  for  a  man  of  his 
frail  physique.  During  the  winter  of 
1895-96,  while  spending  a  number  of 
months  abroad  with  his  family,  he  wrote 
the  following  letter  from  Naples  to  one 
of  his  parishioners,  which  shows  his 
humor,  his  tenderness  to  his  wife,  and  his 
love  for  his  parish: 

PARKER'S  HOTEL,  LAKE  TRAMONTANO,  NAPLES, 
February  27,  1896. 

MY  DEAR  R :  So  we  have  called  you  and 

thought  of  you  ever  since  we  turned  our  sea- 


150  JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

tossed  brains  into  the  mouth  of  the  mysterious 
bag  on   the  "Furst  Bismarck"  directed  to  the 

Brooks  from  the  R 's. 

So  I  must  address  the  family  as  a  whole,  and 
thank  you  all  most  heartily  in  the  name  of  all  the 
Brooks,  for  many  delightful  hours  of  much  needed 
self-forgetfulness.  Indeed  you  were  good  more 
than  you  realized  in  "directing  his  attention  "  as 
they  told  Mulvaney  to  do  with  my  lord  the  ele- 
phant, and  we  have  the  precious  bag  stored  away 
with  our  steamer  things  to  serve  us  again  on  our 
return  voyage.  .  .  .  Our  stay  in  lovely  Sorrento  was 
charming  among  the  donkeys  and  oranges,  and 
then  came  heavenly  Capri  for  two  blissful  days, 
fascinating  veins  of  mingled  mountains  and  sea 
everywhere.  We  do  not  know  another  place  as 
beautiful,  unless  it  be  little  Ravello  perched  up 
above  old  Amalfi  with  its  ruined  palaces,  and  con- 
vents, and  churches,  a  town  in  its  prime  in  the  tenth 
century,  and  dead  now  for  a  hundred  years. 
We  stopped  there  three  weeks,  but  at  last  the  cold 
drove  us  to  Naples  at  Christmas,  where  we  happily 
found  the  Brewers.  After  that  time  we  went  to 
Sicily  to  spend  the  month  of  January  at  Palermo. 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   151 

In  spite  of  bad,  rainy  weather  we  delighted  in  the 
wonderful  architecture  and  rare  old  mosaics  in 
such  profusion  there,  but  after  a  time,  Mrs.  Brooks, 
who  had  come  away  from  home  greatly  exhausted 
and  careworn,  came  down  with  her  old  enemy 
the  rheumatism.  ...  It  has  been  very  hard  to  feel 
her  deprived  of  so  much  enjoyment  for  a  time, 
and  in  such  suffering  and  weakness,  but  we  are  re- 
joicing to  feel  that  the  worst  is  now  over,  and  that 
the  doctor  assures  us  of  her  going  on  to  Rome  next 
week  some  time.  .  .  .  We  have  about  four  months 
more  to  enjoy,  and  then  shall  sail  from  Genoa  for 
the  dear  old  home,  full  to  overflowing  with  what 
we  have  seen  and  done,  but  oh,  so  happy  in  what 
is  our  daily  thought,  the  taking  up  next  September 
of  the  blessed  old  life  in  the  midst  of  all  the  dear, 
loving  hearts.  It  is  with  me  night  and  day,  and 
sometimes  it  seems  as  if  I  could  not  wait  to  feel 
myself  hi  the  old  study  and  church  once  more, 
but  yet  what  a  lovely  experience  lies  before  us 
here  in  these  coming  weeks.  Rome,  Florence, 
Venice,  Milan,  and  all  the  lesser  places.  How  we 
will  talk  together  next  winter !  How  I  wish  that 


152      JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

you  could  see  wonderful  Pompeii,  and  then  the 
treasures  of  fresco  and  bronze  and  marble  from 
it  stored  in  the  Museum.  I  am  so  glad  that  Mrs. 
Brooks  was  able  to  go  and  see  it  with  us.  The 
girls  went  first  with  me,  and  then  another  day  she 
went,  so  that  by  having  a  chair  for  her  we  could 
show  her  all  that  we  had  enjoyed.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of 
old  Roman  life  and  mythology  is  everywhere,  and 
you  seem  to  live  the  very  life.  How  splendidly  all 
is  going  in  parish  life,  and  what  a  noble  fellow  Mr. 

P is.    How  I  long  to  be  at  his  ordination, 

but  I  must  n't  do  so,  it  is  all  right.  How  is  the 
St.  Andrew's,  and  G.  F.  S.,  and  the  Trinity  Club, 
Sunday  school,  and  all  the  rest  ?  .  .  .  I  am  thinking 
of  you  all  these  Lenten  days  in  the  chapel,  and 
shall  be  with  you  at  Easter.  Think  of  us  some- 
where between  Rome  and  Florence.  .  .  . 

The  "mysterious  bag"  alluded  to  at 
the  beginning  of  the  letter  was  sent  to 
them  as  they  were  about  to  leave  America, 
filled  with  puzzles,  games,  riddles,  verses, 
and  such  things,  to  help  them  pass  the 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION  153 

time  on  shipboard.  Mr.  Brooks  returned 
from  his  trip  abroad  refreshed  and 
strengthened  for  his  work.  During  those 
months  of  absence,  however,  it  was  dif- 
ficult for  him  to  throw  off  the  thought  of 
his  people.  In  truth,  there  was  no  time 
in  his  life  at  Springfield  when  he  could 
free  himself  from  it  on  account  of  the 
intensity  of  his  nature.  When  death  en- 
tered the  home  of  one  of  his  families 
during  his  summer  vacations  he  would 
return  to  Springfield  without  being  asked 
to  do  so,  for  he  felt  that  he  was  then  most 
needed,  and  he  longed  to  be  a  comfort  and 
help.  The  following  letter  written  while 
abroad  is  significant  in  this  connection: 

57  VIA  SISTINA,  ROME, 
March  19,  1896. 

MY  DEAR :  I  have  read  in  the  paper  with 

very  great  pain  of  the  sorrow  which  has  come  to 
you  in  the  death  of  your  mother,  and  so  long  to  be 


154      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

with  you  and  bring  you  some  words  of  comfort 
and  strength  during  these  days  of  bereavement. 

The  greatest  deprivation  of  this  long  time  of 
separation  is  the  loss  of  the  precious  privilege  of 
sharing  the  burdens  of  those  I  love  so  dearly,  but 
God  knows  what  is  best,  and  I  can  at  least  send 
you  my  message  of  tenderest  sympathy  in  this 
great  loss.  For  I  remember  so  well  from  your 
talks  how  you  have  dreaded  it,  and  not  for  your- 
self alone,  but  even  more  for  the  lonely  life  which 
it  would  bring  to  the  last  days  of  your  dear  father. 
But  now  that  it  has  come,  I  am  sure  that  there  will 
also  come  to  you,  as  always  in  the  loss  of  such  a 
pure  and  holy  life,  a  spiritual  power  which  will 
help  you  to  see  God's  love,  and  to  understand 
something  even  now  of  the  meaning  of  it. 

And  then  I  know  too,  what  a  calm  and  strong 
teaching  is  coming  to  you  daily  from  your  father's 
Christian  trust  and  patience.  I  love  to  feel  the 
connection  between  your  mother's  earthly  life,  and 
that  of  my  dear  brother  Arthur's,  and  how  his 
prayers  were  offered  once,  as  you  told  me,  for  her. 
Now  that  the  work  of  each  is  done  here,  they  are 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION    155 

living  the  immortal  life  together,  until  we  join 
them  above. 

How  all  our  thoughts  are  turned  to  Christ,  as 
we  think  of  these  earthly  servants  of  his.  I  am  so 
glad  that  you  have  had  these  sad  but  blessed  days 
of  Lent  to  comfort  you  with  the  daily  thought  of 
Christ's  sharing  our  human  weakness  and  pain 
and  death  with  us.  And  how  I  shall  think  of  you 
all  on  Easter  morning  as  Christ  brings  forth  our 
life  immortal  from  the  conquered  grave. 

May  God  be  with  you  in  all  your  sorrow,  my 
very  dear  friend,  and  sanctify  it  richly  to  you  and 
your  dear  father. 

It  was  but  natural  for  John  Brooks  to 
deem  it  a  precious  privilege  to  be  with  his 
people  at  such  times.  When  the  news 
came  that  a  loved  one  had  died,  he  went 
at  once  to  the  home.  Sometimes  he  would 
sit  quietly  in  the  house,  letting  his  pres- 
ence be  what  comfort  it  could.  Once  at 
the  bed  of  a  dying  child  he  knelt,  and  said, 
"Let  us  pray,"  and  the  prayer  was  "Our 


156   JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

Father  who  art  in  Heaven."  For  years 
after  that,  when  even  deeper  sorrow  came 
to  that  home,  the  mother  said  that  "Our 
Father,"  to  whom  he  always  referred, 
took  on  a  different  meaning.  "He  was  to 
my  family  a  sincere  and  precious  friend, 
and  minister."  He  did  not  confine  the 
expression  of  his  sympathy,  however,  to 
members  of  his  own  parish,  for  the  ruling 
motive  of  his  life  was  very  strong,  —  it 
was  simply  service  for  others.  In  that 
work  he  found  a  joy  and  happiness  which 
surpassed  that  of  other  men  who  were 
prospering  in  the  business  world.  To 
him  no  business  in  the  world  equaled 
that  of  the  Christian  ministry.  It  was 
this  point  of  view  that  made  him  con- 
sider his  work  a  privilege,  made  his 
efforts  a  success,  and  his  own  faith  serene 
and  strong. 

The  words  of  the  Burial  Service  he 


MINISTER  OF  CONSOLATION   157 

read  in  a  subdued  and  reverent  tone, 
which  showed  the  depth  of  his  feelings. 
In  the  sick-room  his  reading  of  a  simple 
hymn  would  often  infuse  it  with  a  new 
meaning.  Sometimes  at  a  funeral,  when 
circumstances  made  a  few  words  advisa- 
ble, he  did  not  touch  upon  personalities, 
but  spoke  of  Christ,  and  the  joy  and  hope 
of  the  Life  Immortal. 


CHAPTER  X 

/ 

TWO   MEMORABLE   SERVICES 

THE  two  services  in  Mr.  Brooks'  min- 
istry deserving  special  mention  were  the 
consecration  of  the  church  in  1900,  and 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  minis- 
try in  Christ  Church  in  1903. 

Twice  during  the  year  1899  he  appealed 
to  the  parish  for  money.  During  the  first 
six  months  of  the  year  he  paid  off  ten 
thousand  dollars  of  a  debt  of  fourteen 
thousand  dollars.  This  he  accomplished, 
not  only  by  his  talks  from  the  chancel  on 
Sunday  mornings,  but  also  by  sending  a 
personal  letter  to  every  communicant  of 
the  church.  In  the  fall  he  began  again 
and  wrote  another  letter  with  the  result 
that  on  Christmas  Day  the  debt  was 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES     159 

cleared.  In  all  his  talks  and  letters  upon 
the  subject  there  was  never  a  note  of  dis- 
couragement ;  he  was  always  hopeful  and 
optimistic.  While  these  letters  contained 
business-like  statements,  they  ended,  as 
did  the  last  one,  in  this  manner:  "I  beg 
you  most  earnestly  and  affectionately,  my 
dear  parishioners,  to  sacrifice  to  your  ut- 
most for  your  church's  need,  that  by  your 
generous  offerings  this  may  be  memorable 
as  the  last  call  for  a  debt  on  Christ  Church 
in  its  history."  The  letter  was  a  loving 
appeal.  He  never  forced  his  people,  or 
scolded,  or  found  fault  when  things  were 
going  wrong.  He  attained  his  ends  by 
persuasion,  and  by  the  confidence  that 
his  sincerity  and  honesty  inspired. 

On  the  tenth  of  October  the  next  year, 
1900,  the  consecration  service  was  held 
in  Christ  Church.  Bishop  Lawrence  at 
the  beginning  of  his  sermon  turned  to  Mr. 


160    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

Brooks,  and  said,  "On  you,  my  dear 
brother,  has  rested  the  heaviest  part  of 
the  burden,  which,  I  know,  you  would  now 
call  a  privilege.  With  what  supreme  de- 
votion and  courage  you  have  carried  it 
through  deep  trials,  and  many  joys,  your 
people  well  know ;  to  you  belongs  a  large 
share  of  the  joy  of  this  day.  I  cannot 
begin  this  sermon  without  recalling  your 
three  brothers  who  have  been  called  from 
this  ministry  to  a  higher  service,  and  real- 
izing the  sympathy  and  gratitude  with 
which  they  would  have  joined  in  this  con- 
secration. With  what  words  of  burning 
eloquence  would  your  brother,  the  great 
bishop,  have  illumined  the  whole  occa- 
sion. The  privilege  of  preaching  the  ser- 
mon which  would  have  been  his,  has 
fallen  to  me,  and  I  gratefully,  yet  humbly, 
accept  it.  As  Bishop,  and  in  behalf  of 
this  Diocese,  I  congratulate  you.  I  can- 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES    161 

not,  however,  speak  simply  as  your 
Bishop;  for  over  thirty  years  we  have 
been  bound  together  by  ties  of  friendship ; 
together  we  entered  college;  together  we 
studied  for  the  ministry ;  together  we  did 
our  first  work,  in  common  charge  of  the 
little  mission  in  Philadelphia.  It  was 
your  voice  that  in  convention  commended 
me  for  the  office  of  Bishop :  to  you  I  first 
turned  to  be  my  helper  as  archdeacon  in 
the  mission  work  of  Western  Massachu- 
setts. These  personal  words  are  not  out 
of  place  even  in  this  public  service,  for 
the  commendation  and  congratulation  of 
friend  by  friend  are  a  part  of  the  happiest 
and  richest  rewards  of  this  busy  age." 

As  the  long  procession  of  bishops, 
clergy,  and  guests  passed  up  the  aisle, 
singing  the  hymn,  "Ancient  of  Days,"  a 
crowded  church  bore  witness  to  a  noble 

and  devoted  ministry.    After  the  reading 
11 


162     JOHN   COTTON   BROOKS 

of  the  Instrument  of  Donation,  the  sen- 
tence of  Consecration  was  pronounced  by 
Bishop  Lawrence. 

On  December  the  sixteenth,  three  years 
later,  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  Mr. 
Brooks'  ministry  was  celebrated.  At  this 
service  Bishop  Vinton,  assisted  by  Bishop 
McVickar  of  Rhode  Island,  Bishop  Law- 
rence of  Massachusetts,  and  Bishop  Bur- 
gess of  Long  Island,  administered  Holy 
Communion.  Brief  addresses  were  made 
by  the  bishops  present  and  a  few  of  the 
clergy,  bearing  witness  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  Mr.  Brooks'  ministry. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Alexander  H.  Vin- 
ton, D.D.,  of  Western  Massachusetts,  was 
the  first  to  speak.  He  said,  "Twenty-five 
years  of  a  man's  mature  life  spent  in  one 
congregation !  What  chords  of  love  are 
wound  about  the  hearts  of  a  people  in 
that  time !  There  are  undertones  of  feel- 


MEMORABLE   SERVICES     163 

ing  beneath  the  articulate  expressions  of 
affection  and  esteem  which  will  be  spoken 
to-day.  You  can  only  know  the  place 
which  your  rector  holds  in  your  hearts. 
No  occasion  could  more  beautifully  re- 
flect the  relations  between  you  and  him 
than  this  celebration  which  you  are  car- 
rying out  to-day.  No  more  devoted  rector 
ever  served  a  church:  all  he  is,  and  all 
he  has  been,  he  has  given  freely  to  you 
through  these  long  years.  He  has  sanc- 
tified your  sorrows,  shared  your  joys,  and 
lent  his  helpful  presence  to  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  your  daily  life.  I  cannot  but  feel 
that  those  of  our  number  who  have 
passed  on  to  their  reward  are  looking 
down  upon  us  in  sympathy  and  rejoicing 
this  day." 

Bishop  McVickar  of  Rhode  Island, 
who  was  closely  associated  with  Phillips 
Brooks,  said,  "Give  us  a  man  for  twenty- 


164    JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

five  years,  and  we  know  him  pretty  well, 
and  yet  you  who  have  known  him  so  long 
will  want  to  know  more  of  the  man.  You 
want  to  go  back  to  that  beautiful  home 
where  he  was  bred.  I  wish  I  could  do 
justice  to  this  family.  We  would  like 
once  more  to  see  the  sweet,  strong  face 
of  the  mother,  the  manly  face  of  the  head 
of  the  family,  noted  for  his  methodical 
habits  in  all  things,  and  the  six  sons. 
One  thing  we  know,  the  strong  family 
life  that  was  there,  each  one  of  the  mem- 
bers feeling  the  other's  influence.  The 
world  is  grateful  for  such  a  family." 

The  Rev.  Arthur  Lawrence,  D.D., 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Stockbridge, 
Massachusetts,  then  said,  "It  is  rarely 
that  we  can  celebrate  a  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary in  a  church.  In  the  old  days  a 
parish  was  like  a  wife,  and  the  minister 
took  it  for  life.  A  strong  ministry  is  a 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES     165 

long  one,  and  we  must  protest  against  the 
modern  idea  that  a  man  wears  out  in  the 
ministry.  It  is  but  the  unrest  of  our 
present-day  demand  for  changes.  The 
greatest  honor  is  one  which  time  alone 
can  give.  A  man  may  leap  to  military 
fame  in  a  day,  or  be  raised  up  to  be  a 
bishop  of  a  diocese  in  an  hour,  but  neither 
can  rank  beside  him  who  wears  the  chev- 
rons of  service.  Whether  it  is  a  patrolman 
or  a  car-conductor,  the  bars  on  his  sleeve 
mean  years  of  service  and  duty  per- 
formed. We  are  here  to-day  to  place  the 
bars  of  service  on  the  rector  of  this  church. 
He  has  been  with  you  in  confirmation,  in 
marriage,  and  in  every  other  great  occa- 
sion in  your  lives,  and  a  tenderness  exists 
between  you  which  only  long  time  and 
faithful  service  can  bring.  We  meet  to- 
day to  bid  godspeed  to  the  cause  of  the 
Church,  and  to  give  a  vital  expression  of 


166    JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

our  hope  that  he  may  be  with  you  with 
unfailing  strength  and  vigor  in  the  years 
to  come." 

The  Rev.  Leighton  Parks,  D.D.,  then 
rector  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Boston, 
speaking  on  "Life  in  the  Undivided 
Diocese,"  said  in  part:  "In  the  old  dio- 
cese there  is  only  one  thing  to  tell  in  brief 
time,  and  that  is  the  influence  of  Phillips 
Brooks.  I  remember  the  first  time  I  met 
John  Brooks  was  when  he  was  with 
Phillips  Brooks.  I  knew  Phillips,  but  I 
did  n't  know  John ;  I  saw  Phillips  snap 
off  his  eye-glasses  and  I  heard  him  say, 
'That  is  Parks.'  John  said,  'You  don't 
mean  it.'  They  came  across  the  street 
and  Phillips  looked  at  me  with  that 
amused  interest  which  seemed  to  say,  'It 
seems  impossible  that  anybody  so  little 
can  live.'  So  the  first  time  I  ever  saw 
John  Brooks  he  was  with  his  brother, 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES    167 

and  I  have  never  been  able  to  think  of 
one  without  the  other  since.  All  these 
years  he  and  those  of  us  who  knew  his 
brother  have  been  obliged  to  measure 
ourselves  by  that  majestic  figure  of  the 
Christian  minister.  But  the  old  diocese 
has  done  for  John  Brooks  even  more,  it 
has  given  him  also  the  inspiration  that 
came  through  that  friendship,  through 
that  brotherhood,  through  that  example; 
for  no  man  ever  drew  near  Phillips  Brooks 
who  did  not  come  out  of  his  presence  with 
a  feeling  of  his  own  unworthiness,  but  as 
well  with  a  sublime  hope  for  what  he  was 
to  do  in  the  future,  a  belief  that  in  him, 
poor  as  he  was,  there  was  something  that 
God  had  made  which  He  had  given  to  no 
other  man.  And  that,  I  know,  has  been 
the  glory  and  the  joy  of  these  twenty-five 
years,  that  even  the  great  brother  did  not 
exhaust  all  of  God's  gifts  to  the  ministry. 


168      JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

And  so  I  come  to  bring  the  greeting  of  the 
old,  undivided  diocese,  and  to  remind  you 
of  what  no  man  needs  to  be  reminded  of, 
that  the  glory  of  the  diocese  was  Phillips 
Brooks." 

Two  classmates  of  Mr.  Brooks  while 
at  Harvard  and  the  Seminary  spoke 
next.  The  Rev.  Floyd  Tomkins,  rector  of 
Holy  Trinity  Church,  Philadelphia,  said: 
"When  I  came  back  from  the  mission 
field  I  met  Mr.  Brooks  with  the  same 
spirit  in  which  we  would  have  met  soon 
after  graduation.  It  has  been  so  all 
through  these  long  years;  whenever  we 
come  together,  we  go  back  to  the  dear 
college  days  and  privileges.  Then,  the 
graduation  of  Phillips  Brooks  in  1855 
seemed  an  age  ago,  but  now  our  own  is 
still  further  in  the  past.  But  our  enthu- 
siasm is  still  young,  and  those  blessed  days 
return  to  us  with  perennial  freshness  and 


MEMORABLE   SERVICES     169 

vigor.  This  is  not  a  day  of  obituaries ;  we 
are  still  active  young  men,  and  we  will 
work  for  many  years  yet  and  carry  through 
them  the  spirit  of  youth  and  of  hope.  And 
on  some  distant  day  there  will  be  a  re- 
union of  all  colleges  where  we  shall  again 
feel  the  thrill  of  our  entrance  enthusiasm 
and  youthful  hopes." 

His  other  classmate,  the  Rev.  Harry  P. 
Nichols,  D.D.,  rector  of  Holy  Trinity 
Church,  New  York  City,  referred  to  the 
seminary  days  at  Andover,  saying,  "It 
was  good  for  us  to  be  amongst  those 
distinguished  men,  for  though  we  have 
outgrown  the  education  we  received,  we 
have  been  left  the  splendid  heritage  of 
character.  We  were  glad  to  sit  at  the 
feet  of  the  great  teachers,  just  because 
they  were  great.  And  from  those  days 
we  brought  away  a  sense  of  good-fellow- 
ship, which  is  one  of  the  strongest  char- 


170      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

acteristics  of  John  Brooks,  —  he  has  still 
the  same  breeziness  and  open-hearted- 
ness  that  made  him  so  dear  to  all  men." 

Two  of  Mr.  Brooks'  former  assistants 
followed  Dr.  Nichols.  His  first  assistant 
minister,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Dulany  Addi- 
son,  D.D.,  rector  of  All  Saints'  Church, 
Brookline,  Massachusetts,  spoke  as  fol- 
lows :  "The  keynote  to  the  success  of  Mr. 
Brooks  is  his  singleness  of  purpose  in  up- 
building the  parish.  He  has  entertained 
no  other  ambition,  and  vague  ideas  of 
establishing  the  kingdom  of  God  in  dis- 
tant lands  have  had  little  weight  with 
him  as  compared  with  the  work  in  his 
home  city  and  his  church.  Again,  his 
success  is  largely  due  to  his  skillful  gen- 
eralship in  laying  large  plans  and  policies, 
and  watching  carefully  over  the  details. 
Mr.  Brooks  felt  that  if  work  was  to  be 
done  it  was  for  him  to  lead  and  for  the 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES    171 

parish  to  follow.  His  knowledge  of  the 
people  was  also  a  large  factor.  Parish 
visiting  has  almost  passed  away  in  large 
mart  churches,  but  not  in  Christ  Church. 
He  has  carried  his  spirit  of  loving  cheer 
into  thousands  of  homes  in  his  friendly 
visitations,  and  it  has  borne  fruit  in  the 
affection  you  have  for  him  to-day.  He 
has  also  taken  an  active  part  in  civic 
affairs,  and  his  work  as  exemplified  in  the 
Union  Relief  Association  stands  for  the 
latest  ideal  in  modern  charity.  He  in- 
vestigates every  case  and  always  rules 
his  charity  by  his  judgment.  .  .  .  Last  of 
all,  let  me  testify  to  the  vitality  of  his 
preaching.  You  all  will  bear  witness 
that  many  of  his  sermons  are  not  un- 
worthy of  the  mind  of  his  brother, 
Phillips  Brooks.  There  is  a  quiet  elo- 
quence and  a  loving  spirit  of  Christ  in 
them;  he  has  brought  new  thought  from 


172   JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

his  very  soul  and  shared  it  with  you  for 
the  last  twenty-five  years.  He  is  truly 
your  minister,  for  he  is  your  servant  in 
the  church  and  home.  He  who  truly 
serves  is  the  greatest  among  you  all." 

Then  the  Rev.  James  DeWolf  Perry,  Jr., 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  said:  "He  has  united  the 
inspiration  of  his  earlier  experiences  with 
the  reflection  of  his  maturer  years,  and 
has  concentrated  his  whole  energy  on 
building  up  a  strong  parish.  In  it  the 
family  life  predominated;  Christ  Church 
is  like  one  great  family.  The  youth  of 
the  church  turn  to  their  rector  as  they 
would  to  an  elder  brother,  and  always 
find  his  heart  attuned  for  loving  sym- 
pathy in  their  troubles  and  ambitious.  I 
have  often  had  reason  to  congratulate 
myself  that  I  had  his  strong  example 
before  me  in  the  first  years  of  my  min- 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES    173 

istry,  but  sometimes  I  have  envied  the 
young  man  who  could  settle  in  this  city 
and  become  a  worker  and  a  companion 
for  life  of  Mr.  Brooks." 

The  Rt.  Rev.  Frederick  Burgess,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Long  Island,  said:  "As  I 
stand  here  to-day  it  seems  as  though 
there  must  be  some  mistake  in  celebrating 
this  as  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
coming  of  my  friend  to  this  church,  for 
it  seems  to  me  that  it  was  only  the  other 
day  or  the  othor  year  that  I  was  rector 
of  Grace  Church,  Amherst,  and  as  neigh- 
bors in  the  diocese,  we  often  exchanged 
pulpits  and  ideas.  Youth  has  the  ad- 
vantage that  it  makes  friends  easily,  and 
our  common  tastes  and  ideals  soon  ce- 
mented a  lifelong  friendship.  The  man 
whom  we  honor  to-day  has  a  genius  for 
friendship.  He  has  gone  among  the 
people  of  the  city,  laughing,  enjoying, 


174   JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

weeping,  as  they  did,  and  his  friendships 
have  always  been  deep,  true,  and  tender. 
The  clergy  of  the  vicinity  used  to  gather  in 
a  kind  of  a  club,  and  I  well  remember 
how  often  the  deepest,  truest  convictions 
of  our  hearts  flashed  out  in  sparks  of 
truth  at  these  gatherings.  The  laity  do 
not  always  truly  know  their  rector,  for 
they  cannot  see  these  brightest  lights  of 
his  character  which  only  shine  in  clerical 
meetings.  Such  a  day  as  this  is  a  protest 
in  forgetting  the  past.  The  emphasis  is 
laid  to-day  on  the  value  of  a  close  friend- 
ship between  the  church  and  the  minister. 
With  such  a  gathering  as  this  to  look 
back  upon  we  can  defy  the  heart  of  care 
which  so  often  rides  with  those  who  sit  in 
clerical  saddles.  We  can  defy  the  world- 
weariness  which  is  the  greatest  tempta- 
tion of  the  aging  clergyman." 

The  closing  address  was  made  by  the 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES     175 

Rt.  Rev.  William  Lawrence,  D.D.,  the 
Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  a  part  of  which 
was  as  follows :  "It  was  in  the  old  college 
days  in  Harvard  that  first  we  became  in- 
timate. We  entered  college  together, 
and  studied  and  worshiped  under  the 
same  inspiration.  Later  in  Andover 
Theological  School  we  lived,  thought, 
breathed,  and  ate  theology  together.  We 
both  worked  in  small  struggling  parishes 
for  a  time  after  graduation  and  kept  in 
close  touch  with  each  other,  and  when  he 
came  to  Springfield  twenty-five  years 
ago  we  were  still  one  in  thought  and 
aspiration.  Devotion,  devotion,  and  yet 
again  devotion,  is  the  basis  on  which 
the  work  of  my  friend  has  always  stood. 
His  persistent  devotion  through  these 
long  years  has  found  a  rich  reward  in  the 
grateful  hearts  of  his  church  and  the  com- 
munity. For  twenty-five  years  he  has 


176  JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

been  going  in  and  out  of  the  houses  in 
Springfield,  tracing  out  men,  women,  and 
children  in  their  joys  and  sorrows,  and 
bringing  them  home.  The  limitation 
and  glory  of  his  life  has  been  that  he  has 
done  the  hardest  of  the  work  himself. 
Grateful,  loving  assistance  he  has  had  in 
great  store,  but  he  has  been  the  leader, 
and  by  the  very  force  of  his  ideal  has 
drawn  his  followers  after  him.  Through 
all  trouble  and  loss  he  has  walked  with 
serenity,  cheerfulness,  and  peace,  and 
never  in  the  most  trying  times  given  up 
his  work  among  the  people.  No  man 
could  be  what  he  has  been  to  the  church 
and  the  city  unless  he  was  sound  in 
heart  and  character  to  the  very  core." 

At  a  reception  in  the  evening,  Mr. 
Brooks  was  presented  by  his  parishioners 
with  a  purse  of  one  thousand  dollars. 
His  response  was  a  fitting  close  to  the 


MEMORABLE  SERVICES     177 

day:  "I  cannot  express,"  he  said,  "the 
stimulus  and  the  exhilaration  which  this 
day  has  given  me.  The  central  part  of 
my  life  is  finished.  And  I  have  in  some 
degree  seen  the  far-away  hopes  and 
dreams  of  my  earlier  service  in  Christ 
Church  realized  in  the  desire  of  my 
fellow-men,  as  expressed  to-day.  I  ac- 
cept this  gift  as  an  outer  and  visible  sign 
of  that  intangible  devotion,  loyalty,  and 
love  which  is  in  your  hearts  toward  me. 
What  shall  I  do  with  such  a  gift  as  repre- 
sents the  heart  of  a  parish  ?  My  service 
with  you  has  not  been  a  duty,  but  a  glad, 
bright  service  in  living  in  you  and  making 
Christ  live  in  your  hearts.  May  Christ 
at  last  show  us  that  larger  service,  and 
bring  us  all  into  the  common  service 
of  mankind." 


12 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   LAST   VOYAGE 

THE  year  following  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  Mr.  Brooks'  ministry  he 
began  to  show  signs  of  failing  health.  In 
the  fall  he  attended  the  General  Conven- 
tion at  Boston,  as  a  delegate.  Returning 
to  Springfield  he  was  unable  to  work,  and 
spent  a  few  weeks  at  Atlantic  City.  The 
following  year  he  was  obliged  to  cease 
his  former  activity  in  parish  work,  and 
remained  some  time  away  from  Spring- 
field. He  passed  the  summer  of  1906 
at  Camden,  Maine,  and  while  there  he 
underwent  a  slight  operation,  from  which 
he  seemed  to  recuperate.  He  spent  the 
days  out  of  doors,  rowing  and  taking 
long  walks,  yet  when  the  time  came  for 


THE  LAST  VOYAGE        179 

him  to  return  to  Springfield  he  had  lost 
rather  than  gained  in  health.  One  of  his 
vestrymen,  Mr.  Henry  H.  Skinner,  went 
to  Camden  to  find  out  about  his  health, 
with  the  result  that  a  six  months'  vaca- 
tion was  offered  him.  Mr.  Brooks  ac- 
cepted the  offer  and  prepared  at  once  for  a 
winter  abroad  with  his  younger  daughter, 
Harriette.  Before  he  returned  to  Spring- 
field, he  wrote  the  following  letter. 

CAMDEN,  MAINE. 

DEAR  MRS. :  I  am  going  to  ask  you  a 

question,  to  which  I  want  a  good,  honest,  unusu- 
ally honest,  answer.  You  are  always  very  good  in 
being  willing  to  entertain  stray  clergymen,  even 
Congregationalists,  I  remember,  and  I  wonder, 
therefore,  whether  you  would  be  willing  to  take 
one  in  for  a  few  days  this  week.  He  is  one  in 
whom  I  am  specially  interested,  namely  —  myself. 

You  have  heard  already,  I  presume,  of  the  very 
kind  offer  of  a  vacation  of  six  months  from  the 
vestry  to  me,  and  I  am  coming  home  to  arrange 


180  JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

to  sail  for  Europe,  and  the  rectory  is  closed  to  me. 
Now  I  do  not  often  write  this  kind  of  a  letter,  and 
it  is  very  rare  and  valuable,  and  you  must  appre- 
ciate it  very  much,  and  not  be  offended  with  me 
for  presuming  to  write  it. 

His  request  was  quickly  granted,  and 
he  came  back  to  spend  the  last  few  days 
in  Springfield.  On  Sunday  he  did  not 
preach,  but  made  a  short  address  from 
the  chancel.  The  visit  with  his  friends 
was  a  bright  and  happy  one.  The  last 
evening,  his  last  in  America,  he  sat  about 
the  fireplace,  talking  and  laughing  with 
his  usual  interest.  He  talked  of  the 
parish,  how  proud  he  was  of  it,  and  what 
noble  men  made  up  the  vestry,  for  this 
had  always  been  a  matter  of  pride  with 
him,  —  to  his  vestrymen  he  had  been 
loyal,  as  they  had  been  to  him.  On  the 
following  day,  as  he  was  about  to  sail, 
his  affection  for  them  was  revealed,  when 


THE  LAST  VOYAGE        181 

he  spoke  again  of  their  goodness  in  al- 
lowing him  to  take  such  a  long  vacation. 
So  he  spent  his  last  evening  in  Spring- 
field, talking  to  and  of  his  people,  —  how 
much  they  had  been  to  him  and  what  he 
thought  of  them.  "We  have  the  very 
finest  poor  in  the  parish  that  there  are  in 
town,"  he  said.  "And  to  think  that 
there  is  n't  anybody  I  have  to  explain  or 
make  apologies  for  in  all  the  parish." 
There  is  a  depth  of  satisfaction  in  know- 
ing that  his  last  days  in  America  were 
spent  so  happily  among  his  own  people. 
So  he  left  his  parish,  after  assuring  him- 
self that  his  new  assistant  would  continue 
in  charge  until  he  returned. 

Christ  Church  was  now  a  parish  num- 
bering over  twelve  hundred  communi- 
cants —  and  free  from  debt.  The  in- 
vested funds  amounted  to  over  fifty-five 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  annual  ex- 


182      JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

penditures  exceeded  fifteen  thousand 
dollars.  Financially  he  was  leaving  his 
house  in  order. 

On  the  twenty -fourth  day  of  September, 
1906,  a  few  of  his  friends  came  to  the  "  S.  S. 
Winifredian,"  at  East  Boston,  to  bid  him 
good-by.  He  left  America  that  afternoon, 
cheerful  and  happy,  feeling  that  the  trip 
would  restore  his  health.  His  physician 
had  told  him  that  he  might  live  for 
twenty  years  if  he  would  take  a  com- 
plete rest  and  travel  leisurely.  After 
arriving  in  England  he  spent  a  number 
of  weeks  in  some  of  the  smaller  towns 
and  visited  a  few  of  the  English  cathe- 
drals. From  the  little  town  of  Ross  he 
sent  two  picture  postals  home  to  Spring- 
field. Twenty  years  before  he  had  visited 
the  same  town,  and  after  his  return  he 
called  one  afternoon  on  a  parishioner,  the 
wife  of  a  gardener,  who  had  originally 


THE   LAST  VOYAGE        183 

come  from  there.  After  all  those  twenty 
years  no  reference  was  made  to  the  place, 
but  he  remembered  his  call  that  after- 
noon, and  sent  the  postals.  On  one  he 
wrote:  "I  have  thought  of  you  here  in 
this  dear  old  town;  spent  afternoon  at 
Gloucester  Cathedral,"  and  on  the  other, 
"For  Auld  Lang  Syne,  enjoying  England 
very  much."  The  family  to  whom  these 
were  sent  was  amazed  at  his  remarkable 
memory,  but  it  was  only  an  illustration 
of  his  knowledge  of  his  people  and  of  his 
interest  in  their  lives. 

Arriving  at  Paris  the  last  of  November, 
he  became  rapidly  worse  from  the  illness 
which  for  several  years  had  been  gradu- 
ally sapping  his  strength.  He  was  taken 
to  the  private  hospital  of  one  of  the  most 
skilled  surgeons  in  Paris,  and  operated 
upon.  After  the  operation  it  was  thought 
that  he  would  recover,  and  soon  be  able 


184     JOHN  COTTON  BROOKS 

to  return  to  America.  On  hearing  of 
his  illness  some  of  his  old  friends  in 
Boston  and  Philadelphia  desired  to  show 
their  appreciation  of  his  work  and  de- 
votion to  the  Church.  Thirteen  thou- 
sand dollars  were  to  be  presented  to  him 
as  an  expression  of  friendship  for  him- 
self and  his  brother  Phillips.  As  such, 
it  was  a  rather  remarkable  token.  But 
Mr.  Brooks  never  lived  to  know  of  this 
tribute  from  his  old  friends.  A  few 
weeks  later  a  cable  message  from  Paris 
from  his  nephew,  Mr.  Charles  Dana 
Gibson,  said:  "End  came  this  morning 
most  peacefully."  This  was  on  January 
3d,  1907. 

When  the  news  of  his  death  reached 
Springfield,  many  were  the  homes  that 
mourned  his  loss.  "The  story  of  these 
years  will  be  told  so  far  as  their  bare 
facts  are  concerned,"  one  of  the  Spring- 


THE  LAST  VOYAGE        185 

field  papers  stated  that  day,  "but  the  in- 
spiration of  John  Brooks  to  young  men 
and  women,  —  and  the  strength  his  very 
presence  gave  to  those  who  really  sought 
to  know  him,  —  that  is  a  greater  matter 
of  which  scarce  enough  can  be  said."  It 
was  true,  the  outward  facts  could  be  told, 
but  not  the  influence  and  inspiration 
that  he  had  made  upon  his  people  dur- 
ing all  those  years.  And  beyond  the  re- 
markable personal  influence  upon  the 
lives  of  his  own,  the  people  realized 
that  one  of  their  leaders  had  gone.  No 
man  had  more  closely  in  his  heart  the 
interests  of  his  city.  He  had  helped  to 
establish  and  build  up  the  philanthropic 
and  charitable  institutions  of  Springfield ; 
he  had  the  power  of  awakening  the  pub- 
lic conscience,  and  he  had  built  up  the 
people's  faith;  he  had  succored  and 
comforted  the  needy  and  dying;  he  had 


186     JOHN   COTTON  BROOKS 

been  Christ's  faithful  soldier  and  servant 
unto  his  life's  end ;  he  had  fulfilled  the 
words  of  his  brother,  made  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century  before,  —  he  was  now  Brooks 
of  Springfield  in  the  highest  and  noblest 
sense. 

It  was  nearly  a  month  later  that  his 
body  was  brought  to  New  York,  where 
it  rested  over  night  in  the  chancel  of  the 
Church  of  the  Incarnation,  of  which  his 
brother  Arthur  was  once  rector.  The 
funeral  services  were  held  in  Christ 
Church,  Springfield,  on  January  23d. 
The  Rt.  Rev.  Alexander  H.  Vinton,  D.D., 
his  own  Bishop,  officiated,  while  the  Rev. 
Donald  N.  Alexander,  the  Rev.  Henry 
B.  Washburn,  the  Rev.  Edmund  J.  Cleve- 
land, and  the  Rev.  Thomas  W.  Nicker- 
son,  Jr.,  assisted  in  the  service. 

That  night  his  body  rested  in  the  chan- 
cel of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  the  church 


THE  LAST  VOYAGE        187 

of  which  his  brother,  Phillips  Brooks, 
had  been  for  so  many  years  the  rector. 
The  following  morning  a  little  company 
of  his  friends  and  members  of  his  family 
went  to  Mount  Auburn,  where,  in  the 
family  lot,  beside  his  mother  and  father, 
and  four  brothers,  they  laid  him  to  rest. 
Bishop  McVickar  of  Rhode  Island  read 
the  service,  and  then  they  went  away. 

"  Now  the  laborer's  task  is  o'er  ; 

Now  the  battle  day  is  past; 
Now  upon  the  farther  shore 

Lands  the  voyager  at  last. 
Father,  in  Thy  gracious  keeping 

Leave  we  now  Thy  servant  sleeping." 


5 


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